Accounts on social media circulated a report claiming that a Turkistani commander in the Syrian Ministry of Defense, (Abu Muslim Yildirim), was killed in an attack carried out by gunmen in the town of Hawar Kilis near the Syrian-Turkish border. The report was backed by a photo of the commander in question.
The Kashaf team followed up on the report and ran a reverse search on the attached photo, finding that it belongs to a young Turkish man with special needs named (Muhammad Fatih Sari Gul), who posts his daily life on Instagram and had previously published the same photo on his account.
Checking reliable local sources, the team found no credible report of clashes or deaths in the village of Hawar Kilis, and searches of open sources turned up no reliable information about the commander in question or his presence in the Syrian army.
Why is this claim misleading?
Change of context: A personal photo of a young Turkish man was published and taken out of its actual context, and a false report was promoted on the basis of it.
