World
Outrage after Sky News blames Syrian ‘militias’ on Gaza war
Correspondent Alex Crawford accused of broadcasting ‘poisonous propaganda’
August 14, 2024 10:40
Correspondent Alex Crawford accused of broadcasting ‘poisonous propaganda’
August 14, 2024 10:40Sky News has been accused of broadcasting “poisonous propaganda” after one of its most prominent journalists said Iran-backed militias were operating in Syria as a consequence of the war in Gaza.
Shia paramilitaries have in fact been fighting in Syria since the outbreak of the nation’s civil war in 2011.
Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi force, openly acknowledged their role in the conflict in 2013.
Its volunteers crossed into Syria to fight alongside Assad's troops, or to protect a shrine on the outskirts of Damascus, Reuters reported at the time.
Lebanon-based Hezbollah has meanwhile fought to defend Assad's regime for over a decade.
The militia initially entered the conflict in 2011, before stepping up its role as Iran swung its weight behind the Assad regime in 2013.
North east Syria, Crawford claimed in a Sky report published on Monday, is now, "an area now feeling the effects of the war in Gaza.”
Speaking to camera while being driven through the region, she said: "The SDF [Syrian Democratic Forces] say there are Isis sleeper cells operating here in the towns around Deir Azzour and they are fighting a war of militias.
"Militias backed by Iran in the east, and others backed by the Syrian regime in the west.
"Another indicator that the war in Gaza is having many more unforeseen, unpredictable consequences.”
Writing on X, historian Simon Sebag Montefiore said Crawford’s report was: “Just the latest example of Sky News's inability to control Hezbollah's brazen manipulation of its so-called 'reporters' who repeat its truly poisonous propaganda without filter or interpretation (and in this case to the extent of actually making obvious factual mistakes) is making Sky News into a joke. Reliable and balanced reporting is so important.”
Sharing the Sky News clip, Dave Rich, the Community Security Trust’s director of policy, said: “The suggestion by Alex Crawford 40 secs into this film that the presence of Iranian-backed militias in Syria is a consequence of the war in Gaza is utterly bizarre.
"Hezbollah has been fighting in the Syrian civil war since 2013!”
The Board of Deputies previously accused Crawford of exhibiting a “disgraceful lack of professionalism" after she claimed that Israel has a “lust for revenge” in an article published to Sky’s website.
She had written that conflict between Hezbollah and Jerusalem had entered a “dangerous stage” following a strike by the terror group that killed 12 Druze civilians in the Golan Heights.
A Board spokesperson told the JC: "We will be contacting Sky directly to ask exactly how such highly disturbing comments fit within their editorial guidelines."
Sky News has been contacted for comment.