Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
Video shows members of the new Syrian transitional government fighting each other during the first official meeting.
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
Interim Government Until March 1
Syria’s leading rebel group on Wednesday named a new prime minister, Mohammad al-Bashir, to head the country’s transitional government. Bashir, who chaired a meeting in Damascus, said that he was taking charge of the country as caretaker prime minister until March 1, 2025.
Fact
Newschecker ran a keyword search for “Syrian new government fight,” which did not throw up any credible news reports about such a brawl.
We next ran a reverse image search of keyframes, which led us to a clearer version of the video on Facebook, uploaded on August 10, 2024, with an Arabic hashtag translating to #freelawyers.
A further search led us to this August 10, 2024 media report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, headlined, “A fistfight between the Minister of Justice in the Syrian Interim Government and lawyers at Gaziantep University in the Aleppo countryside over accusations of defection.”
“The city of Afrin, north of Aleppo, witnessed a fistfight inside the Gaziantep University branch between a delegation headed by the Minister of Justice in the “Syrian Interim Government” Haboush Lata, and a group of lawyers affiliated with the “Free Lawyers
Council”… The escalation comes amid growing tension between the “Syrian Interim Government” and the “Free Lawyers”, who accuse the minister of causing divisions within the Bar Association,” read the report, translated from Arabic.
We also came across this report by Syria TV on Youtube, dated August 11, 2024, where the presenter talks about the incident from the 01:24 mark, sharing the viral video.
“…What was the reason for the quarrel that took place during the meeting of the Free Lawyers Association in Aleppo,” read the description of the video, translated from Arabic, which further confirms that the viral video predates the recent Bashar al-Assad government ouster on December 8, 2024 and not related to the new interim government.
Also Read: Woman Accused of Drunk Driving In Viral Video Is Not The Daughter Of Dr Muhammad Yunus
Result: False
Source
Syria TV report, Youtube, August 11, 2024
Facebook post, August 10, 2024
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights report, August 10, 2024
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
