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On January 17, several Syrian pro-government sources denied reports that ISIS had captured several villages in southeastern Idlib from the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and the Tiger Forces.
Earlier, the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq claimed that ISIS fighters captured several “positions” of the SAA and its allies east of Sinjar town in the southeastern Idlib countryside and killed three Syrian soldiers. The ISIS-linked news agency usually use the term “position” to refer to a checkpoint or a fortification on the front line and not villages.
However, Syrian opposition activists and news outlets ignored this fact and exacerbated Amaq report claiming that ISIS captured the villages of al-Juhman, Saraa and Suray’a east of Sinjar town. Some opposition activists went as far as claiming that ISIS captured the town of Sinjar itself.
Amaq later released photos of ISIS fighters attack east of Sinjar town. The photos also confirmed that ISIS fighters only attacked two positions of the Palestinian pro-government militia Liwa al-Quds east of Sinjar.
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Pro-government activists also revealed that the photos are at least two days old and were shot in a remote location east of Sinjar town that’s usually attacked by ISIS.
#Syria #Idlib #Idleb The Photos released today of #ISIS near Sinjar are atleast 2 days old a video released on the 16th is at the same location as the photos released today pic.twitter.com/TXCq80mmjk
— Ivan Sidorenko (@IvanSidorenko1) January 17, 2018
The opposition claims don’t only reflect the real level of reliability of “pro-opposition” sources, but it can be also considered as an example of the ongoing propaganda war in Syria.
