Accounts on social media circulated a statement attributed to the commander of Division 210 in the Israeli army, Yair Flay, claiming that the Israeli army had arrested about 95 Syrians during its operations inside Syria, and that the Syrian government had demanded that 19 of them not be released.
The fact-checking team conducted extensive digital tracing that included searching for keywords linked to the content of the statement and the name of the division commander, and reviewing the official accounts and platforms of the Israeli army as well as news archives and reliable Hebrew and Arabic sources, and found no reliable source, recording or official statement proving the authenticity of the circulating statement. Digital footprint tracing also showed that the source of the claim traces back to the page al-Risala al-Arabiya, which is known for publishing misleading content, before it was circulated through other accounts.
Why is this claim false?
Fabricated statements: The statement was falsely attributed to the commander of Division 210 in the Israeli army with no official source or recording proving it was made, and it originated from a page known for publishing misleading content in order to mislead public opinion.
