The Video Turns out to be Fake but Not the Determination of the Syrian People

On Tuesday of this week I published a post entitled “A Hero Outside Damascus.” It set up a 1:06 minute video of what appeared to be a young Syrian boy risking his life in a tremendous show of heroism in order to rescue a young girl from what was assumed to be Syrian regime snipers. The video offered a glimpse of what I told one person was the true Syrian spirit of determination.

We learned tonight that the video was a farce. It was filmed in Malta by a Norwegian film crew and posted to their YouTube page with the intention of deceiving viewers. This viewer clearly was deceived. (Read BBC Trending article here)

The video’s creator and director, Lars Klevberg, told BBC Trending that he “deliberately presented the film as reality in order to generate discussion about children in conflict zones.” He went on to say, “We are really happy with the reaction. It created a debate.” 

Regardless of Klevberg’s motivation, he has, through a one minute lie, provided a ruthless dictator who has overseen the killing of more than 200,000 real civilians including more than 10,000 real children an opportunity to foster doubt about claims of carnage, cruelty, torture and genocide. It takes only a kernel of truth to seed a field of lies, and Mr. Klevberg handed Assad just such a kernel. 

To a world already unmotivated because of fears and fatigue to come to the aid of a dying Syrian people, such an act, such a kernel, will likely cost lives – not lives lost heroically in grand gestures of sacrifice, but rather lives lost while walking to an open market - lives of a mother, a father, a grandmother or grandfather simply hoping to live until the horror ends, unaware of the approaching regime helicopter carrying the barrel bomb that will end their hope that day. These moments may not be filmed. They may never find their way to my browser or yours, but they are real, and they are happening today.

Assad needs no film crew in Malta to portray his despotism. The Syrian crisis does not require fiction to, “create a debate.” No, what is needed is for the world to simply see the reality of the crisis. Mr. Kleveberg and his team were wrong but maybe their motives were genuine. It does not matter. What matters is there are heroes, real heroes, needing water, food, medicine, hope, and life. Their stories may not be ready for Hollywood, but they do not live in Hollywood. They live in Homs, Aleppo, Idlib, Damascus, and dozens of towns and cities across Syria… and they need their story, their true story told. 

Finally, I stand by my statement about the determination of the Syrian people. I do not need a YouTube video to show me that spirit. I see it and hear it in every conversation I have with Syrians here and still in Syria who refuse to let go of hope. Their determination is real. It is inspiring, and it will give life to a new Syria, a free Syria.