A video purporting to show jihadists condemning a possible western intervention in Syria has been making the rounds on social networks. However, we have determined that this video, which was relayed by several media outlets and generated much commentary online, is actually a fake.
The footage shows a group of fighters displaying a banner that says “We reject military intervention in Syria and we view it as a renewed attack against the Muslim nation”. The banner also features dozens of logos of rebel brigades that are active in Ghouta, near Damascus, where chemical attacks took place on August 21.
One of the fighters reads out a “press release” condemning Westerners in the name of the “al Mourabitin Ala Ard al-Sham” brigades.
“We reject Western military intervention in Syria and we view it as a new attack against the Muslim nation. We, members of the brigades that are waging jihad, […] consider that any military intervention from the Western unbelievers is targeted against our people […]. We also disagree with all those in the opposition that support this intervention, whether from the inside or the outside. Remember the crimes committed by the United States, Europe, and Russia, as well as their allies in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Mali, and Chechnya. […] All those who support their endeavour are traitors to Allah […]. Those countries, and especially the UnitedStates, are the ones who gave that criminal Bashar the green light to use chemical weapons, in order to be able to justify this attack […]. We will resist [this attack] with all our might […].”
Some Internet commenters began to doubt the authenticity of this video as soon as it came out.
“I have no doubt that this video is a fake. It’s the work of the regime’s minions who are trying to confuse people.”
In fact, the video was posted by the
Tahrir Party, an internationalist Islamic extremist group based in Malaysia that advocates for the creation of a caliphate in the Muslim world. The brigades mentioned in the video do not actually seem to be aware that they were cited, nor do they support their message.
For example, this is what Abu Hadi, an officer in the al-Habib al-Mustafa brigade mentioned in the video, told us: