Accounts on social media circulated videos that their publishers claimed documented protests in the city of Deir ez-Zor demanding the fall of President Ahmad al-Sharaa's government, noting that the demonstrators had come out in protest over living conditions.
The fact-checking team examined the content of the circulating clips, including a review of the chants and banners appearing in the recordings, alongside a review of reliable local and field sources, and found that the demonstrators had gathered in front of the "Sayyida Khadija" mosque at Dawwar al-Dalla in the city of Deir ez-Zor to demand improved basic services, without chanting any slogans or demands calling for the fall of the government. The fact-checking team also documented the protests on 27 July 2026.
Why is this claim misleading?
Distorting the content: The protesters' demands were exaggerated and distorted from service and livelihood demands into calls to topple the government, giving the demonstration a political dimension that did not appear in its chants or banners.
