China’s state broadcaster has questioned the media narrative surrounding the footage of a five-year-old Syrian boy shell-shocked after a bombing. The man who released the images may have ties with a rebel group notorious for beheading a teenager on camera.
Omran Daqneesh was reportedly saved from the rubble in the aftermath of a bombing in the rebel-held Qaterji district of Aleppo last Wednesday. A volunteer rescue group called the White Helmets, also known as the Syrian Civil Defense, released the footage of the dust and blood-covered child sitting in an ambulance chair.
he image quickly went viral, with the US State Department calling the child “the real face” of the Syrian war.
In a weekend report, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV suggested the video may have been partially staged and criticized the way it was used to stir pro-rebel sympathies.
“Critics have suggested that [the video] is part of a propaganda war, aimed at creating a ‘humanitarian’ excuse for Western countries to become involved in Syria,”the voiceover to Saturday’s report said, as cited by AFP.“The workers did not make rapid rescue efforts, and instead quickly set up a camera.”
The report added that the White Helmets, which say they are a neutral party in the Syrian conflict, have close links to the British military. – READ MORE