Pages on social media platforms circulated a report claiming the complete displacement of members of the Christian community from the governorates of Idlib, Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, accompanied by inciting phrases.
The fact-checking team reviewed local sources and carried out field inquiries, and recorded no reliable data or indicators proving that any displacement or systematic pressure had taken place against members of the Christian community in the mentioned governorates. Field facts contradict this claim: the Christian village of Halouz in the Idlib countryside saw a number of its residents return after fourteen years. The claim comes within a series of earlier allegations about the situation of Christians in Syria, including what was promoted about the withdrawal of the Franciscan nuns from Aleppo for security reasons, which proved after verification to be an organizational redeployment unrelated to any displacement or targeting.
Why is this claim false?
Fabricating field news: The claim invented a mass-displacement incident that rests on no field evidence or reliable source, attached to inciting phrases in order to stir sectarian strife and suggest a systematic targeting of Christians that contradicts the documented facts.
