The video of Syria’s Justice Minister purportedly overseeing the execution of two women under Al Nusra Front's interpretation of Sharia in Idlib during the civil war has prompted warnings of Iranian and Russian-backed online campaigns to discredit the interim administration in Damascus.
Shadi Muhammad Al Waisi, who was a religious official in Al Nusra Front, is alleged to have condemned the women to death for prostitution and adultery in video dated January 2015, which has appeared on social media.
One of the women pleads to see her children before she is shot in the head. The man alleged to be Mr Al Waisi and the men with him shout "God is great" following the killings. Al Nusra Front was the precursor to Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, which overthrew the Assad regime last month.
The killings are said to have happened in Idlib, which was controlled by Al Nusra Front at the time.
Fact-checking platform Verify-Sy said it had confirmed the authenticity of the videos and that Mr Al Waisi was featured in them. It quoted unnamed senior officials of the current HTS-led Syrian administration. The official said the video "documents the enforcement of the law at a specific time and place, where the procedures were carried out in accordance with the laws in effect at the time".
The official claimed the footage "reflects a stage we have moved beyond" and that a "thorough review" would be carried out by the government.
The HTS government, let by Ahmad Al Shara, has not commented on the footage. The two women were said to have been executed after convictions for prostitution and adultery.
HTS is now steering the transition from the rule of former president Bashar Al Assad. But concerns remain among Syrians and the international community over the group's former association with Al Qaeda.
The group has sought to rebrand from its roots and has revoked some strict measures. De facto leader Mr Al Shara has also undergone a transformation, moving away from his nom de guerre. The US recently removed a $10 million bounty offered for his capture.
Nonetheless, online investigators warned that the video of the executions could have have been unearthed as part of a co-ordinated online campaign by forces loyal to Mr Al Assad to discredit the interim administration.
While it was hard to determine who originally shared the video, investigators said the content had been amplified by social media accounts in Iraq and Lebanon, which are believed to be linked to Iranian-backed militias supporting the Assad regime, as well as influential accounts in Russia.
Since the fall of the Assad regime, online spaces have been flooded with allegations against some members of the new administration - some of which are false.
“These disinformation actors, such as Russia, Iran, falsely portray members of the administration as extremist operatives, claiming they are working to transform Syria into a hub for extremism and establish an Islamist state,” said Zouhair Al Shimale, London-based Syrian who researches online disinformation and is communications manager at Verify Sy.
While he did not dispute Verify Sy's findings on Mr Al Waisi, he said the spread of such stories was an attempt to block Mr Al Shara's attempts to rebuild Syria and normalise relations with the West. “They want to target western audiences and they select key narratives to go on, like forcing women to wear hijabs and enforcing Sharia,” he told The National.
He warned against unofficial social media accounts claiming to document human rights abuses, as those same accounts also used their traction to spread disinformation. In some instances “fabricated” claims of human rights abuses against minority groups had also been shared. “These misleading narratives are designed to provoke concern among Western nations and create a public relations crisis for the Syrian government,” he said.
