Syrian-Western Media War (3)

The westerners and reactionary Arab regimes are not content with equipping terrorists with arms. They rather embark on fabricating news and programs to deceive public opinion and depict terrorists as ordinary people and not their own handmade barbaric agents.

From the moment the first wave of Islamic Awakening began in the region the west made great efforts to hijack it and lead it in the direction of its nefarious objectives to the extent that the western politicians did their best to somehow confiscate the Islamic awakening or pretend that it was their own objective. In addition to policy-making and the expenses spent on these objectives, the western media played an important role in this regard. For sure, a large part of the western policies regarding the regional developments was enforced by their media, the media giants which give a totally different picture of the regional developments. These so-called mainstream media using various tactics did their best to affect the regional developments.

In general, several strategies and contradictory tactics can be observed in the few recent years of activity of those media. For instance, a news horn like the royal BBC network, regarding the first sparkle of Islamic Awakening in Tunisia kept silent on the first day as the British politicians were silent. But after a few days, in its programs in different languages BBC released sporadic news of this wave. Nevertheless, in all these news the network tried to portray the protest as a common event and it was quite evident that it attempts to show the nationwide protest insignificant and, that too, by portraying the Tunisian developments as secondary news. This news strategy continued so much so that BBC along with Reuters tried to highlight trivial news instead of Tunisian developments in a bid to cast it into oblivion. For instance, they tried to portray the developments of Afghanistan or the ordinary events of the world as important by inserting debates and inviting commentators. This move was made in coordination with the western news networks as they wanted to buy time for the Tunisian dictator.

The western media just in a few days changed their tactics. As they felt their repute at stake they tried to portray western regimes as defenders of human rights and democracy and shed crocodile tears for the people of Tunisia. But once the wave of Islamic Awakening swept all over Tunisia, the VOA by showing the killing of protesters tried to misguide the world public opinion that the US is seeking to retake the rights of the protestors.

Use of Black exponential News against Islamist groups was the other method employed by western news agencies. The US networks like CNN tried to portray the protestors as mobs and they prepared the audience for their suppression. The other method was to bomb the minds with the news without sources. Other networks such as Fox News broadcast news in various tones but with the same content in a bid to poison the atmosphere and warn about the danger of Islamists. As for Syria, a long time after the onset of western-orchestrated war in the country, several strategies were applied. Since the beginning of war in Syria, the western and reactionary Arab regimes have mobilized their media for tarnishing the Syrian army’s prestige and popularity. These media never cover the killing of civilians by chemical weapons by terrorists in Syria and Iraq and the military aid to the armed groups who invade the country through Turkish border. But by forging news on killing civilians by Bashar Assad’s army these hired media have offended the feelings of people. The VOA without making any mention of the role of terrorists in creating Aleppo’s inhuman situation claimed that in Syrian and Russian bombardment against the positions of what they call “rebels” in eastern Aleppo, civilians were targeted.

Moreover the enemies of the Syrian people which are discontent with the victory and liberation of Aleppo from the clutches of terrorists, by publishing fake pictures of women and children, tried to tarnish the image Syrian national army and portray them as murderers of Syrian people. Using old photos related to Gaza Strip and fake images related to 2014 and 2015, they are trying to depict the campaign of the Syrian national army as a kind of savagery against the oppressed people of Aleppo.

For instance, the Saudi TV network Al-Arabiya which has gained notoriety for its hostile attitude towards the Syrian national army, on December 14, 2016 broadcast news titled “News coverage of the details of Aleppo incidents”. Al-Arabiya released pictures of a group dubbed as White Helmets taking out a little boy from the debris of a building. It is to be noted that the so-called White Helmets have always been criticized by reporters due to their lies and relationship with the terrorist grouplet, Al-Nusra. Managing Editor of Veterans Today website James W. Dean from Atlanta says: The west takes advantage of the policy of portraying the Syrian army as a tactic. What they merely try to do is to control the narration of war, for; unfortunately the spying apparatuses especially in the US, Britain and Canada have been blended with the media to much extent.

Rejecting the western media propaganda against the Syrian national army and their claim on what they describe as resorting to violence in eastern Aleppo, Jim W. Dean added: Charges on using barrel bombs in Aleppo and turning the city into a mass grave is unfounded. The Syrian army had no interest in killing civilians and destroying their properties, for this is no help to materializing their ideal which is retaking the city.

The English daily Independent, referring to facts of battlefield, has challenged the impartiality of western media in coverage of Syrian war. Pointing to the similarities in the operation of liberating Aleppo in Syria and Mosul in Iraq, the newspaper wrote: Despite these similarities, the international media’s reports of these two events are quite different. Unlike what the western media reported, that the government of President Bashar Assad is responsible for killing civilians in Aleppo, the head of UN humanitarian affairs Stephen O’Brien has declared that opponents [terrorists] in eastern Aleppo hindered the exit of civilians but unfortunately we see that this was not reflected in western media. The paper also says perhaps the reason behind releasing different reports on developments in eastern Aleppo and eastern Mosul is the absence of foreign correspondents in those regions and the Takfiri Daesh and Al-Nusra Front have either detained or beheaded them or keep them hostage for ransom.

It is noteworthy that about 10 thousand members of the terrorist outfits Al-Nusra Front and Ahrar Al-Sham are fighting the Syrian government in Aleppo and had parts of eastern Aleppo in their control. Most foreign reporters, stationed in Lebanon and Turkey, were trying to make coverage of Syrian developments but some of them were trapped and killed by terrorist groups while trying to talk to eye witnesses.

The English Anglican priest Andrew Ashdown who has gone to Syria on his own expense, after his return, in an exclusive interview with the Russian English TV network said: the reports of western media on Syrian conditions are unilateral and are provided merely from terrorist sources in eastern Aleppo. He added: in Britain and Europe, the reports are biased. I mean we almost receive the news from the terrorist sources in eastern Aleppo. But I had the chance to come to Syria independently and see that many of the people tell quite similar stories about the savagery that they have experienced by the terrorists.

How many people can go to Syria like the British priest and believe what they see closely and not what the western media fabricate?

FK/RM/SS