Warning: This story contains graphic details.
According to reports, hundreds of civilians in Syria were killed in the middle of clashes between interim governmenters and pro-Assad regime-loyalists. But far away from the shadow instead of happening, the murders – in some cases summarizing executions in areas and villages – were widespread: often published for telegram groups first and widespread on social media.
The content offers an insight into what happens on site while Syria’s persistent civil war. And human rights investigators run to collect and analyze everything -in some cases before it is deleted by the perpetrators or removed by social media moderation systems. Collecting and analyzing the videos is a crucial step in setting up a fact base and the basis for future investigations or accountability.
“It is very important for us to do this quickly, since automated content moderation can often remove harmful or graphic film materials if it is reported if it is not reported if it is only automatically reported as violent content that may violate platform guidelines,” said Benjamin Strick, Director of Investigations for Information, which is based in Great Britain.
“Even part of the content from the weekend we saw an increase in violence was removed.”
Check murders
The CIR has launched a new project that documented violence in Syria – including civilians – in response to the latest murders that began in December 2024, who were loyal to the Assad Regime, attacked the state armed forces last week. The fighting struggles turned into revenge, which were committed both by the government and by non-governmental forces in areas by members of the Alawite religion minority-the second largest religious group in Syria, one group, which includes former President Bashar al-Assad.
Several human rights groups have already published reports in which official figures, eyewitness statements and verified videos from social media were combined to give light on what occurs. This includes the Syrian network for human rightsPresent Human Rights Watchand the Syria judicial and accountability center (Sjac).
Collecting and checking videos of murders published on social media can help to separate the truth of incorrect presentation, said Strick. Numerous videos spread online After the violence that shows old incidents of violence that have recently been presented as events.
Checking film material gives the public important insight into what really happened during the murder campaign, in which the victims may not have recorded any videos, but the perpetrators.
“It is really important to see what happened on site,” said Strick.
The visual investigation team of CBC News, which is working with the SJAC – an NGO, the declared goal of which is “meaningful justice and accountability for Syria” – has checked the authenticity of three online circulation videos and that dozens are collected more that are not observed.
CBC news journalists collected videos, some of which also shared Sjac. The team using tools with reverse search tools and the analysis to identify uniforms and insignia found that the videos had not been shared before. We shared these uniforms, patches and insignia with Sjac researchers who confirmed the results of CBC and added details.
Due to its graphic nature, CBC News only shows static parts of the videos. The victims in the videos were not identified.
In a civilian that carries the uniforms of the Syria’s public security forces, a person in civilian clothes move into a alley before shooting it. There are five bodies in the video. Another shooter that is dressed in black can be seen how he films the body with a phone. A photo divided The state news agency Syria points out that in this video at least one of several of several men who were arrested in extrajudicial murders.
In a second video, a group of men who wore black uniforms dragged a person into a ditch next to a street with the Syrian flag, hit him with rifles and then shoot him. The camera swings and reveals a truck that is covered with the insignia of the Syrian security forces.
In a third, two men fire on a body on the floor that moved shortly before. They carry tiredness and stains that seem to be the seal of the Prophet insignia of various Islamic militias in the country. At least one other body is visible – it is unclear whether they are alive or dead.
Arrested by members of the government forces
In violence, 172 members of security, the police and the armed forces were killed by Assad-connected fighters, as can be seen from a statement by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) that were sent to CBC News. At least 211 civilians, including a humanitarian worker, were killed by these groups in direct shootings, according to the organization.
“It was just the panic mode that asked the armed groups and anyone who can fight the government,” said Noura Aljizawi, senior researcher at the Citizen Lab of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy from Toronto, told CBC News.
Rachemorde along the coast. Witnesses told the Associated Press that alawites were shot in the streets and at the gates of their houses. Alawith houses were also burned and looted, said witnesses. The groups organized by the government were responsible for the death of 420 civilians as a whole and disarmed fighters, including 39 children and 49 women, said the Snhr in a preliminary report.
The UN calls the Syria interim leaders to protect civilians, which remain loyal to the struggle between security forces and those who remain loyal to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the repressed president. The former army staff with Assad have been carrying out coordinated attacks and ambushes since Thursday.
CBC News could not check these numbers independently. The UN says that it checked 111 civil murders in the clashes as a whole, whereby the process continues.
Syria’s Ministry of the Interior announced on Tuesday that four people arrested in connection with attacks on civilians. A television report from a Lebanese news agency also showed that two other men were arrested and linked them to a video in which two men on a motorcycle spot appeared to have another man in civilian clothes and executed.
Identify crimes from social media
Aljizawi announced CBC News that videos that were posted online by armed groups were the key to identifying crimes in the past.
“Many of the atrocities we identified … were through videos and photos that they took themselves and posted them on social media,” she said. “It is not unique for the Syrian conflict.”
The videos that were spread online included older videos about murders that were canceled as from this week.
“There is often a level of propaganda that either play down the events that take place on site, either down, discredit or just undermine,” said Cirs Strick.
Disinformation helps to further share the Syrians, said Aljizawi, since Pro Assad Armed Forces can claim that the laws were carried out by the new intermediate government, while others could use the videos to deny that atrocities have occurred at all.
“It damages the victims. It damages the community. It hurt this very fragile, very critical transition. And it does not help to close peace or a feeling of stability in the country.”
