Early yesterday morning I received an email pointing me to three videos that had been posted on LiveLeak, claiming to show the Syrian opposition group launching the August 21st sarin attack. I posted the videos on my blog, and highlighted the dubious nature of the videos. Having spent the last two years examining videos from the Syria conflict on a daily basis, these videos appear suspicious for a number of reasons I detail on my blog post, and are totally unverifiable.
This has not stopped Russia Today using the credibility of my blog to give credence to this videos. This is a transcript of their 10am BST broadcast
Thabang Motsei - ......Meanwhile a prominent Syrian blogger known as Black Moses has posted footage allegedly showing chemical weapons being used by rebels. Let's get the details from our correspondent Paul Scott here in the studio. " Paul Scott - The blogger is a staunch critic of Damascus and a staunch critic of President Bashar al Assad's regime and in the past he has monitored all sorts of news sources and claims and counter claims emerging from the Syrian Civil War to use it as a stick to beat the Assad Government with and implicate Assad in all sorts of atrocities. But it is interesting now that he has posted a video on this blog that suggests that it actually could be the Syrian Opposition that had been using these chemical weapons. It represent a slight shift in focus from what the narrative that the blog has been taking in recent weeks. Thabang Motsei - So this Brown Moses that we were talking about what are experts saying where the rebels could have obtained these chemicals from.
The later 11am broadcast also uses my blog to give credence to these dubious videos
To be absolutely clear, I do not consider these videos to be reliable evidence of anything. They came from irregular sources, and are filmed in a way not consistent with videos posted previously by Liwa al-Islam, among other issues. I do not support Russia Today's use of the credibility of my work to prop up videos I consider to be highly dubious. I believe all credible evidence points to the Syrian military being responsible for the August 21st attack, and have produced large amounts of work examining the evidence that supports that conclusion, which can be found here.
If you wish to contact me with further questions on this matter please email me at brownmoses@gmail.com
Late last month there were a number of reports from Lebanese and Syria television of a truck reportedly captured from opposition forces around Qusayr that was claimed to be Israeli in origin, shown in the below video
An Israel Defense Forces spokesman told the Times of Israel that "based on the identification number seen in footage of the vehicle, the jeep had belonged to the now-defunct South Lebanon Army, and had been out of commission for more than a decade," adding the report was "crude propaganda."
Looking through images from the recently captured Qusayr one stood out, captioned "Forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad ride on a truck in Qusair, after the Syrian army took control of the city from rebel fighters, June 5, 2013. Syrian government forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies seized control of the border town of Qusair on Wednesday, a severe setback to rebel fighters battling to overthrow Assad."
To me this appeared to be the same type of truck reportedly captured by the Syrian Army back in May, but I then discovered something else. Here's the number plate on the above photo
Here's the number plate of the truck captured in May
It seems pretty clear both number plates read 669491, so it's seems it's the same vehicle, and again begs the question of whether this truck was actually seized by Hezbollah from the South Lebanon Army and used for propaganda purposes. This is also important when footage shown on Syrian and Lebanon TV claims to show Israeli weapons supposedly captured in Qusayr.
At a conference organised by the opposition groups tolerated by Assad’s regime in Damascus a group of what was claimed to be 11 former rebels, led by a "Captain Khaled Abdel Rahman al-Zamel" declared their intention to turn their back on the armed opposition and to "return to the army and cooperate with the Ministry of National Reconciliation". In the below photograph we see the men who appeared alongside him
The man on the far right was described in Russia Today's coverage as "Yaser al-Abed, another FSA officer who attended the conference, formerly commanded a rebel group in Aleppo province", who you can see speaking here (thanks to @THE_47th)
Russia Today quotes him saying
Work your minds and know that holding weapons is nothing but a violation to the minds and freedom alike... Syria is our home and honor, but they wanted to burn it. The most targeted things are our religion, nation and land... I have known all that, and that is why I have decided to lay down my weapon to be a loving person who seeks the good and the humanity.
Very moving words from a man who was six months earlier being described by Syrian State news agency SANA as "Terrorist Yasser Fouzi al-Abd", with his confession broadcast of State TV
SANA's article on the March 2012 confession provides details
Terrorist Yasser Fouzi al-Abd on Tuesday confessed to assassinating businessmen Mahmoud Ramadan and Mahmoud al-Sourani, in addition to committing acts of killings, robbery and sabotage in Aleppo Province and its countryside.
In confessions broadcast by the Syrian TV, al-Abd said " Mohannad Jafala and I were close friends, we had the same salafi ideas."
He added that Jafala was a jihadist in Iraq, adding that he had stayed in Tikrit city for three months during the war.
"We made a group and named it 'Abu Amara Battalion', its members were Mohannad Jafala, Hassan Othman, Abdul-Fattah Abdu-Majid, Said Hajj Othman and I." He confessed.
This seems to rather contradict many of the claims made in the press conference, particularly al-Abd's claims at 2:00 in the video of his speech to the conference where he says that he voluntarily handed in his weapons after the calls of the Minister of National Dialogue. You'd also imagine a murdering, Salafi terrorist would at best still be in prison (if not executed), not attending press conferences and receiving rounds of applause.
As the Russia Today articles points out:
Al-Zamel’s statement sparked debate among anti-regime activists – some argued that al-Zamel was forced to make his statement; others claimed that they had no idea who he was.
Which really isn't that surprising when one of the other people speaking at the press conference appears to be unsure of whether or not he's a Salafi terrorist or recently handing in his guns to become a peacemaker. The other question to ask is how complicit the organisers of the conference were, seeing they are meant to by the only opposition that's viable in the eyes of the Assad regime, and if they are helping to produce propaganda it says a lot about where their loyalties lie.
In an article in today's New York Times a reference was made to claims on Syrian State TV that Turkish fighters were involved in fighting in Tremseh, site of a recent alleged massacre
State television also broadcast pictures of a roomful of weapons that it said had been captured from the town, the inventory mostly underscoring just what a crude and simple arsenal the opposition uses. It included 54 guns, 9 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 5,000 cartridges, 25 satellite telephones and 24 mortars, the latter looking as if they had been welded by hand.
The broadcast also showed the identification card of what it said was a Turkish fighter in the group, and a captured man named Abdelsalem Darwish said there had been a Turkish fighter and some Libyans there, as well as money and arms from Turkey.
Activist THE_47th posted a screenshot of the ID card as it was shown on Syrian State TV
Now the card has a few features that suggest the individual isn't Turkish. First the name isn't a typically Turkish name, and Hama is mentioned on the card, which would make sense as the name at the top, Islahiye, is the location of a major Syrian refugee camp. It also happens to look nothing like a Turkish ID card, for example (source)
Egypt’s new leader Mohammed Morsi receives disturbing calls to destroy ancient pyramids. Some Radical Islamists deem the monuments “symbols of Paganism,” and are encouraging the president to tear down the relics.
Bahrain’s president of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, has called on Cairo to demolish the pyramids and “accomplish what the Sahabi Amr bin al-As could not.”
This is a reference to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad’s companion, Amr bin al-As, and his ancient tribesmen, who invaded and conquered Egypt in 641.
Calls from a Bahraini Sunni cleric urging President Mohamed Morsy to destroy the Giza Pyramids were issued from a parody Twitter account online, the Daily News Egypt has learned.
Several right wing online portals ran with the controversial news as a means to raise alarms over the rise of an Islamist-led government in Egypt and its threat to rich historical sites. According to the rumours, Shiek Abd Al-Latif Al-Mahmoud denounced the pyramids as idolatry and asked President Morsy to destroy them.
So another fine example of Russia Today posting a load of old nonsense.
Alex Jones' Infowars is a popular conspiracy website that likes to reveal the "shocking truth" behind a variety of subjects, including the Syrian Uprising. In their latest article, Shocking Videos Reveal Truth Behind Syrian “Freedom Fighters”, they promise to reveal the truth behind "a minority of extremist Wahabi thugs who are anti-freedom, anti-Christian, anti-Shia, anti-Sunni and who will stop at nothing to entrench their ideologically fanatical power base."
The article starts poorly, by posting the video from the Russia Today article I've previously criticised, repeating the error I raised in my original blog post, that "In this video, family members of slain children accuse Syrian rebels of committing the atrocity." Except, as I've pointed out before (and Russia Today corrected on their original article but not their Youtube posting), that at no point in the video does that family make that claim, and the updated Russia Today article now instead says "Sources say that opposition rebels committed the atrocity."
Another video shows a grieving woman talking to Syrian State TV, with the article stating "This woman’s son, Sari Saoud, was shot in Homs. While Al-Jazeera claimed it was the army that killed him, the woman insisted it was the insurgents.". In this earlier video taken of the woman grieving over the body of her son you can hear her in the background at around 50 seconds in shouting "Fuck you, Bashar" in Arabic, which is an odd thing to say if you think the FSA killed your son
Liberal talk show host Tawfiq Okasha recently appeared on "Egypt Today" airing a video of Muslims in Tunisia slicing a young man's head off for the crime of apostasy, in this case, the crime of converting to Christianity and refusing to renounce it.
Another clip from the InfoWars article claims to show opposition members faking wounds for propaganda purposes, but in fact it has been claimed that clip is from Bahrain, which this video in Arabic explains. In this video "“Eyewitnesses” are caught on camera coordinating how to lie about casualties.", at around 1:35 we see the activist in the video pointing, followed by a bang, with the clip claiming he is giving orders to fire. This is an excellent example of crude propaganda, as you can see the original video on Bambuser, where it was originally live streamed, and at about 10 minutes you'll see exactly the same moment in the original clip, except when he points there's no bang. So whoever made the video quoted on InfoWars has added their own sound effects for propaganda purposes. In this video, chants supporting Christian and Muslim unity are incorrectly subtitled to chants attacking Christians
Crude, but effective propaganda. The post also links to another piece of anti-FSA propaganda also quoted in Russia Today, which claims Syrian rebels ransacked a church and attacked another, something I debunked at the bottom of this post. Another article by the same author linked in that post I've previously debunked is Al-Qaeda Rebel Pictured With UN Observers In Syria. Apart from the usual mistake made by a number of sites, that the black flag always means al-Qaeda, when in fact it doesn't (but that's another story), the story claims to have a photo of a man dressed in an al-Qaeda uniform meeting UN observers. As my blog post on the story explains the same man later appeared in a video after his defection from the Syrian Army, claiming
he was a member of the Republican Guard in the Syrian Army, displaying his ID, and was given the uniform to wear.
In the same article it's also claimed:
Meanwhile, a separate video clip leaked to the pro-Assad Truth Syria You Tube channel purports to show an anti-regime rebel being transported by UN observers in trucks bearing the distinctive UN text.
Except this video wasn't leaked to anyone, but posted on an activist channel is a very famous clip of activist Hadi al-Abdallah showing UN monitors a checkpoint in Qusair, driving in their own car, the UN telling them they would not protect them, and leaving them at the end. It's been previously used by activists as an example of the UN failing to protect them. After that he adds a bit more information
At the end of the clip, the men in the UN vehicle break out in a spontaneous chant of “Allahu Akbar,” a phrase widely associated with fundamentalist Muslims who are engaged in jihad.
Also widely associated with Muslims in general by anyone who knows anything about these countries, so just another way for the author of the article to tar the men in this video with the "jihadi" brush. Now all of this took about an hour of research, obviously something Paul Joseph Watson either chose not to do, or didn't care about doing, either making him a terrible journalist or propagandist. I've not had time to examine all these videos, and I'm certainly not saying the Free Syrian Army are angels descended from Heaven, but it seems that for sites like InfoWars the truth is secondary to their agenda. If you have any more information about the videos in the InfoWars post, or other comments please contact me using the details below, or leave a comment. You can contact the author on Twitter @brown_moses or by email at brownmoses@gmail.com
I've been contacted by Professor Christian Cannuyer regarding the below article, and the Le Monde article it was based on to make some corrections. The original text in French is here, and here's the Google Translated version
CORRIGENDUM PRESS ABOUT MY MESSAGE OF JUNE 23 ON THE
SITUATION OF CHRISTIANS OF SYRIA
Dated June 23, 2012, I spoke to a circle of friends an account of
my participation in the work of ROACO ("Riunione Opere Aiuto Chiese
Orientali ") in Rome and a report on the situation in Syria what was
presented Mgr Mario Zenari, apostolic nuncio to Syria. This message was
distributed by third parties on "blogs" or news organizations to
international exposure, sometimes with amenities which I don '
I had no control. This diffusion was not my intention
initials.
If, as it was reproduced, translated this message into the substance table
Update by the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop, he may, in
formulation that has been given, leaving the impression that the nuncio would
specifically criticized the positions of some church figures, to
namely S. B. Gregory III Laham, Patriarch of Antioch
Melkite Greek-Catholic, S. Exc. Archbishop Jean-Clement Jeanbart, Archbishop
Greek Melkite Catholic Aleppo, Mother Agnes of the Cross-Mariam, upper
convent March Yacoub Qara, or Father Philippe Tournyol Clos. I
should like to point out that never in his presentation Bishop Zenari did not invoke
named these people. The reference to them in my message of June 23
was part of a personal phrase that has not been associated with
report of the presentation of the nuncio and does not commit it.
While it remains true that my analysis of the situation in Syria, including the degree
infiltration of radical Salafist movements in opposition to
regime and the subsequent risk incurred by the Christian minority, differs
those expressed or attributed, probably not without strain, in
some media personalities named, I take issue against
any formulation or presentation of my message that would leave people believe that
I would suspect them of misinformation, dubious proximity with the
Syrian regime voluntarily or excessive dramatization. I express
my confidence in the integrity, dedication pastoral concern for the truth and
sincere desire to ease interfaith driving these people
and all these churches in Syria.
I reject also any presentation of my message suggesting that the
Holy See or ROACO would officially voted in this
material or on the case of Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, which has been forced to
leave Syria.
It is incomprehensible that I wear to HB Patriarch Gregory
III, Archbishop Jeanbart-Mariam or Mother Agnes Cross charges that
some presentations seem to express my message, to the extent
I myself, in the journal Solidarity East / Werk voor het Oosten, that
I head to Brussels, repeatedly mentioned the pastoral work of
humanitarian and spiritual commitment of these outstanding personalities of
Church.
Concerning the Abbot Tournyol Clos, this is not the quality of
Archimandrite of the Patriarchate of Antioch Melkite Greek Catholics,
which is proved, which is involved in my message, but the dignity
Episcopal some media have mistakenly attributed to him. The terms
its presence in Homs and the testimony he presented, which I still
to challenge the relevance, have not been the subject of a declaration
Official Papal Nuncio or the Vatican authorities.
Therefore, I urge all media organizations or
exchanges of opinion have published my message of June 23 of the
withdraw from their site and insert in its place the present correction.
I continue to support - and this is the free opinion - that there
not, for now, Syria, the systematic hunting of Christians
from opposition factions, and a real friendship between the
majority of Muslims and Christians continues to prevail. This was well
main content About Mgr Zenari held at the meeting of the
ROACO to which I attended. But everything in my text, could
appear as a charge against the personalities
is above interpolations, shortcuts or settling
unfortunate. I therefore reiterate my demand that it be removed from all
sites where it was inserted.
Prof. Christian Cannuyer
Faculty of Theology at the Catholic University of Lille
President of the Belgian Society of Oriental Studies
Director of the Solidarity Bulletin East, Brussels
The original article is below:
Recently, during a meeting of the Assembly of the Reunion Of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches (ROACO), a number of outspoken Christian figures were criticised for the views they've been expressing about the Free Syrian Army and situation in Syria by Archbishop Mario Zenari, apostolic nuncio to Damascus.
He began by describing events in Syria as a genuine popular uprising and that the majority of opposition members were not radical and not anti-Christian. He said there was no systematic persecution of Christians, and that Christians had been killed alongside Alawites and Sunnis in bombings and skirmishes, but not because of their religious beliefs. He added that to his knowledge no Christian church has been attacked as part of sectarian violence.
He then went onto denounce the alarmist rhetoric of some individuals, including:
- Archbishop Jeanbart, bishop of Aleppo
- Greek-Catholic Melkite Patriarch Gregorios III-Catholic
- Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross
Saying that those who make such statements are engaged in disinformation. He went on to say that he was convinced if they were not on the payroll of the Assad regime then they were being manipulated by the Assad regime. Their words fuel rumours, and reinforce the idea that the Assad regime are the defenders of Christian minorities, and that attitudewhich borders on collaboration while eventually cost them dearly.
He goes onto say that there have been examples of extraordinary acts of solidarity between Christians and Muslims at the height of the conflict, and far from being "persecuted" Christians, at least so far, are respected and cared for, both by the army and by the insurgent forces.
At the same meeting the Catholic hierarchy had their attention drawn to the activism of the alleged Bishop Philip Tournyol Clos, "a greek-Catholic Melkite Archimandrite". The Holy See says he is absolutely not a member of the Catholic hierarchy, he is not entitled to any of the titles which he claims, and his allegations he has made are false. Tournyol was described as a renegade Catholic fundamentalist and extreme right-winger, and his actions described as endangering the Jesuits who have always been keen to maintain dialogue among all communities in Syria.
Both Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross and Bishop Philip Tournyol Clos have been quite active recently, letting the worlds media know about the supposed threats to Christians in Syria, with Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross claiming things such as
Mother Agnes Miriam of the Cross, Mother Superior of the Monastery of St. James at Qara in the Diocese of Homs, claimed that the opposition Free Syrian Army told Christians to get out, saying, "Yes ... it was commander on the ground Abdel Salam Harba who decided that there was to be no more negotiations with Christians." She said that Christians are being targeted because they remain non-partisan in the conflict.
and Bishop Philip Tournyol Clos
In Homs, opposition forces have occupied two areas, Diwan Al Bustan and Hamidieh, where there are all the churches and bishoprics. The picture for us is utter desolation: the church of Mar Elian is half destroyed and that of Our Lady of Peace is still occupied by the rebels. Christian homes are severely damaged due to the fighting and completely emptied of their inhabitants, who fled without taking anything. The area of Hamidieh is still shelter to armed groups independent of each other, heavily armed and bankrolled by Qatar and Saudi Arabia. All Christians (138,000) have fled to Damascus and Lebanon, while others took refuge in the surrounding countryside. A priest was killed and another was wounded by three bullets.
And even appearing on Sky News
Mother Agnes Mariam claims about the Houla massacre were also basis of a controversial article in the German newspaper FAZ which has resulted in an ongoing spat between JohnRosenthal and Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi and Phillip Smyth, which in the light of the latest comments from the Catholic Church suggests John Rosenthal may owe the other two an apology. Hopefully the media will take some time to reflect on what has been said about these individuals at the ROACO, and treat their claims with more cynicism in the future.
As many of you no doubt are aware Russia Today, the English language government funded global news channel, has taken a rather strong stance against the Syrian opposition, and it here's a couple of examples of that stance that edge towards propaganda, or just bad journalism.
In this first article Russia Today claimed, before changing the article
Footage showing the results of an alleged massacre in the Syrian city of Hama in April has been obtained by RT. In the video, family members claim opposition rebels committed the atrocity.
The original text can be seen here, and on other similar sites. Having no doubt watched the actual video they posted online they've now changed the text to this
Footage showing the results of an alleged massacre in the Syrian city of Hama in April has been obtained by RT. Sources say that opposition rebels committed the atrocity.
But still leaving the original text on the Russia Today Youtube page for the video. So some kudos to them for correcting their mistake, even if it does undermine the main source of the claims made in the article, leaving them to unnamed mysterious "sources".
Shocking images have surfaced, revealing the alleged desecration of Christian churches in Syria by Western-backed rebels. The pictures, taken by local Christians outraged at the violence, were published by PrisonPlanet.com.
In one of the photos a man who is said to be a member of the Free Syrian Army poses in a stolen priest’s robe while brandishing a looted cross in one hand and a machine gun in the other. The photos were taken by a Christian woman in Homs, one of the cities most devastated by continued violent clashes between rebels and government forces.
“Everyone knows simply removing these garments from the church is a sin. The priest is the only one who wears them. They even pray before putting them on,” the woman told PrisonPlanet.com.
She added that after the rebels tore the church apart, they went inside to document their violence.
Images show church pews broken apart, with pieces strewn all over the nave. The floor is covered with rubble, and even the altar looks like it has been desecrated.
There's also a watermark across the photograph that says in Arabic "Lens Young Homsi", in case there's any doubt. As for the other accusations of the rebels tearing the church apart, this video from inside the church filmed by activists appears to show a hole in the roof from shelling
So it appears that copying posts from conspiracy websites like Prison Planet doesn't really do much for your journalistic credibility.
This video has been posted online, showing a young man dressed in a black uniform with a al-Qaeda flag armband
In the video he explains he was a member of the Republican Guard in the Syrian Army, displaying his ID, and was given the uniform to wear. Images of him wearing the uniform were then used in the Syrian media, including this article where he's meeting UN inspectors, described as "Armed takfiris with UN inspectors".
He goes on to say he doesn't know how many people were given this uniform, and he's now defected. Update - Small correction on the translation :
"UN inspectors with Armed men" the title says, the takfiris bit is unrelated apparently, the very top title is about "Takfiris take over of a church, evicting the community out of one of the villages", the other says "UN inspectors with armed men", the article goes on to say "The UN only blames one side, while ignoring elements of Al Qaeda "Jihad" entering Syria and murdering its people".
Twitter user Free Syrian tweeted about the following video today, that was apparently shown on pro-Assad Syrian TV channel Addounia TV.
The gentleman in the video is an Algerian claiming to be staying in Homs, and denounces the "fake" footage of Homs being shown on Al Jazeera Arabic, filming both the television to show the Al Jazeera footage of Homs, and outside his hotel window, "proving" the Al Jazeera footage is "fake".
Unfortuantly for our dimwitted Algerian friend he makes a few key mistakes while filming the video. One thing you should always avoid doing if you are going to pretend to be somewhere you are not is giving the viewer a chance to figure out where you actually are, such as clearly filming the lay out of streets and buildings, or filming signs with phone numbers on them that include the area code, as Bjoern H Jespersennoted on Twitter (from 4:38):
963 11 is the dialing code for Damascus.
Of course, this doesn't necessarily prove anything, there's plenty of signs across the world that have dialing codes for all sorts of places, but it does give us somewhere to look. Having examined the street layout and position of the buildings and trees, it seems this is the location the video was filmed, marked by the green arrow:
The cameraman was facing southeast, and from there you can see some key landmarks. For example, there's a tall apartment block in the east, with a distinct pattern of windows, 2 on the left, one in the middle, and one on the right, running up the length of the building, which can be seen in the background on the video at 4:25:
On the satellite map you can also see that across the road to the east there's two small square structures on top of what could be a small building:
On the video at 4:30 you can clearly see the two structures are two canopies on top of a two story building, and you can even see the position of trees outside of the video matches what's on the map:
This is just a few examples of the wealth of evidence that proves that despite what Addounia and their Algerian friend might say this certaintly was not filmed in Homs. A perfect example of regime propaganda.
