Accounts and pages on social media platforms circulated a report alleging that the Internal Security Forces carried out a random arrest campaign targeting residents in the town of Khasham in the Deir ez-Zor countryside.
The Kashaf team followed the circulating claim and, by searching using relevant keywords and reviewing open sources, found that the report was taken out of its actual context. The data showed that the Internal Security Forces intervened in the town of Khasham against the backdrop of an armed family clash that broke out in the area, and subsequently detained several people involved in the dispute and confiscated a number of rifles in their possession; the operation was not a random arrest campaign against residents as claimed.
Why is this claim misleading?
Distorting the nature of the security intervention: A legal procedure to resolve an armed family dispute and maintain security in the town of Khasham was portrayed as a random arrest campaign against residents under the pretext of weapons possession, in order to take the event out of its true context.
