Pages and accounts on social media circulated a report claiming that Bishop "Antonios Saad" visited "Hikmat al-Hijri" in As-Suwayda governorate, coming from Damascus.
The fact-checking team reviewed open sources, traced the temporal and spatial context of the circulating information, and contacted its correspondent in As-Suwayda governorate, and found that Bishop "Antonios Saad" heads the Greek Orthodox diocese of Bosra, Hauran and Jabal al-Arab, and that he actually resides inside the governorate rather than coming from Damascus as the circulating posts claimed. Kashaf's correspondent explained that the bishop handles duties related to managing the church's properties and endowments in the area, and that the visit was to offer condolences on the death of the brother of "Hikmat al-Hijri," within a customary social framework among religious and social figures.
Why is this claim misleading?
Changing the context: The circulating posts tied the visit to the bishop coming from Damascus and gave it a political connotation, whereas the bishop resides inside As-Suwayda and the visit was to offer condolences, which changes the real context of the event and implies a meaning different from reality.
