Pages on social media circulated posts claiming that the teenager Waad Joudeh al-Kurdi from the town of Inkhil in the Daraa countryside had been found nearly 13 days after she went missing, linking her disappearance to a kidnapping carried out by gangs described as affiliated with the Syrian government.
The fact-checking team reviewed the official and open sources related to the incident and spotted a statement issued by the Internal Security Command in Daraa province confirming that the teenager Waad Joudeh al-Kurdi had been found in good health, and denying the circulating claims of her kidnapping. The statement clarified that investigations showed she had left her home voluntarily following family disputes, before being handed over to her family, which contradicts the circulating account of her being kidnapped.
Why is this claim misleading?
Distortion of content: The claim built on the real fact that the teenager had been found, but attached a different context linking her disappearance to a kidnapping by government-affiliated gangs, contrary to the official finding that she had left her home voluntarily, in order to suggest a security breakdown and systematic targeting.
