Locals Confirm Syrian Man ‘Freed’ As CNN Filmed Belonged to Assad’s Regime

Locals Confirm Syrian Man ‘Freed’ As CNN Filmed Belonged to Assad’s Regime

Nothing is ever what it seems in a war zone. Nothing.

CNN admitted that locals in a neighborhood in Homs confirmed the man Clarissa Ward “freed” belonged to former dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The man said he was “Adel Ghurbal,” and he spent three months in prison in the Damascus jail, never seeing the sunlight.

Verify-Sy, which describes itself as “an independent and unbiased platform,” scrutinized Ghurbal’s identity. The dude came out of the prison cell looking just fine and dandy. It is not like he spent three months starved, tortured, and without sunlight (emphasis mine):

The Verify-Sy team searched public records for the name “Adel Gharbal” to verify the circumstances and duration of his detention but found no results. Gharbal, who claimed to hail from Homs and whose dialect supported this claim, prompted further inquiries in the city. The team discovered that his real name is “Salama Mohammad Salama,” a revelation that brought shocking details to light. Salama, known as “Abu Hamza,” is a first lieutenant in Syrian Air Force Intelligence, notorious for his activities in Homs. Residents of the Al-Bayyada neighborhood identified him as frequently stationed at a checkpoint in the area’s western entrance, infamous for its abuses.

Abu Hamza reportedly managed several security checkpoints in Homs and was involved in theft, extortion, and coercing residents into becoming informants. According to locals, his recent incarceration—lasting less than a month—was due to a dispute over profit-sharing from extorted funds with a higher-ranking officer. This led to his detention in one of Damascus’s cells, as per neighborhood sources.

CNN went to the residents of the Al-Bayyada neighborhood in Homs, which Verify-Sy did as well:

A resident of the Bayada neighborhood in Homs gave CNN a photograph said to be of the same man while he was on duty, in what appears to be a government office. Facial recognition software provided a match of more than 99 percent with the man CNN met in the Damascus prison cell. The photograph shows him sitting at a desk, apparently in military clothing. CNN is not publishing the photo to protect the source’s anonymity.

As CNN continued to pursue information about the freed prisoner after the original report, multiple residents of Homs said that the man was Salama, also known as Abu Hamza. They told CNN that he was known for running the Air Force Intelligence Directorate’s checkpoints in the city and accused him of having a reputation for extortion and harassment.

So…either Salama hid in that cell and didn’t want to be found because it’s obvious many people would want him dead, or CNN was in on it.

CNN being in on it is just as bad as Verify-S,y proving CNN didn’t bother fact-checking or trying to find out more about the prisoner.

CNN also reported that the Syrian rebel guards gave Salama to the Syrian Red Crescent. I wonder if the guards and organization didn’t recognize him.

Either way, Salama is gone.

A former #detainee, released from prison without identification, was reunited with a relative in #Damascus.

The #SyrianArabRedCrescent received a report about the individual & after communicating with them, discovered a relative in the city, volunteers assisted in the #reunion. pic.twitter.com/5WNpISUlnl

— Syrian Red Crescent (@SYRedCrescent) December 13, 2024

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