Pages on social media circulated a report claiming that residents of the Barzeh neighbourhood in Damascus had closed the road leading to the military hospital in protest at the governorate demolishing their homes suddenly and without prior warning, referring to dozens of families being displaced and left without shelter.
The fact-checking team followed up on the report by contacting the director of the Media Directorate in Damascus, who explained that the governorate had not demolished any inhabited home and had not removed residents from their homes, and that the demolition was limited to unlicensed, uninhabited buildings still under construction, after prior warnings had been issued to their owners. He indicated that the measures were taken over violations relating to building safety and the lack of infrastructure and basic services, in addition to their failure to meet licensing conditions and the presence of encroachments on public property, streets and pavements, as well as their impact on the neighbourhood's service networks and infrastructure.
Why is this claim misleading?
A different context: The buildings targeted for demolition were uninhabited and still under construction, and warnings had been issued to their owners beforehand, contrary to the claim that inhabited homes were demolished and families displaced without prior warning.
