Mainstream Media Pushes Hoax Video Against The Syrian Government

Mainstream Media Pushes Hoax Video Against The Syrian Government

On 11 Nov 2014, various websites, including The Telegraph, posted one-minute viral clip purporting to show a boy of around 8 years old get up after being hit by gunfire and save another child stranded in the middle of the road under a burnt-out truck.

The video (shown below), which went under the title of ‘Syrian hero boy’ and racked up millions of YouTube viewings, was just a hoax to “deform” the view of the Syrian government  in the international eye!

The so called “Shaam News Network channel” (Syrian opposition channel) posted the video on YouTube earlier this week, claiming it was filmed in Yabroud, a countryside town 50 miles from Damascus. The faked video was exposed after a group of Norwegian filmmakers admitted the video was in fact shot on location in Malta using professional actors and the voice of Syrian refugees living there.

THE CREW FILMING THE VIDEO IN MALTA.

Lars Klevberg, a 34-year-old film director based in Oslo, told the BBC that he had put together the scene based on TV news footage of the conflict in Syria. He added that he want to presented the film as reality to highlight the life of Syrian children in warzones. The director said:

“If I could make a film and pretend it was real, people would share it and react with hope. We shot it in Malta in May this year on a set that was used for other famous movies like Troy and Gladiator. The little boy and girl are professional actors from Malta. The voices in the background are Syrian refugees living in Malta.”

SHOT FROM THE VIDEO.

The film appears to show the boy pretending to have been shot by one of the bullets in order to fool the sniper and get a break in the gunfire, before running up and leading the cowering girl out of harm’s way, reported The Telegraph, after the film was exposed.

SHOT FROM THE VIDEO.

Klevberg also said:

“I was not uncomfortable. By publishing a clip that could appear to be authentic we hoped to take advantage of a tool that’s often used in war; make a video that claims to be real. We wanted to see if the film would get attention and spur debate, first and foremost about children and war. We also wanted to see how the media would respond to such a video.”

Norway is considered to be one of the nations with the highest rates per capita of nationals who have travelled to fight in Syria alongside the ‘terrorists’ of al-Qaeda and ISIS.

The proxy war on Syria started almost 4 years ago, causing the death of more than 200,000 people and more than half the population of the country has been forced to flee.

Sources:

1. Ron Paul Institute
2. BBC