How Western Media Lied About The Syrian War

 In September of 2016, an article about Southern Aleppo was published in the Guardian, written by Martin Chulov and Kareem Shaheen. In this article, obviously false information was used to fabricate an entire news story. This was immediately apparent to me in 2016 and it weighed heavily on me for the better part of a decade. In September of 2024, I finally rediscovered the article.

In this piece, Martin Chulov claims that an Iraqi Hezbollah commander gave a speech in al-Ais village in Southern Aleppo during September of 2016. The problem with this would not be apparent to anyone but those who had kept hourly tabs on the war and knew the geography of Syria very well. The village of Al-Ais had been under rebel control for a few months by this time. No speech had ever taken place.

It should be obvious to anyone that the media lies about wars and geopolitical issues, but even I was taken aback by this story. In the alleged speech, the commander Akram al-Kaabi cites the koran and historic enemies of Shia muslims surrounded by banner and icons. Of course, no photographic or video evidence of this was presented. The goal of this article was clearly to inflame sectarian tensions and paint the Syrian government in a negative light. This was the goal of most Western media stories on the subject at the time.

Nearly everything written about the Syrian war in the Western media was a lie to some extent. However, this article is so cartoonishly false that it gives a perfect case study on the topic. Chemical weapons were likely never used by the Syrian government. The use of torture by the Syrian government was heavily exaggerated. The Syrian army *did* fight against ISIS and were never allied to them. Russia bombed ISIS heavily. All of this would appear contentious to anyone who read Western news outlets. 

In September of 2024, Martin Chulov was accused of sexual harassment and fired from the Guardian. A man with no moral compass used and then disposed of by the intelligence agency-run Western media who likewise have no morals.