A video that appears to show an American directing a video shot by Syrian rebels has been circulating on social media in the past 48 hrs.
The video, reportedly released by Daesh (ISIS), shows a Syrian rebel named “Ahmed Muhannad at-Talla” giving a speech in front of the camera. Early on, at-Talla’ makes a mistake and appears to forget his line. At this point, a distinctly American-sounding voice says “Go ahead, that’s fine. You can start over”.
The video features the recognizable black standard of Daesh, and written commentary in both Arabic and English reading “the Apostate, Muhannad Ahmed at-Talla’, as the Americans record his statement.”
You can watch the video below:
Syrian rebel commander forgets his line while recording a speech & the American director tells him to start over. pic.twitter.com/nc46zWHbZd
— Lina Arabi (@LinaArabii) July 27, 2016
There has been dispute as to the authenticity of video and as to whether the American voice was edited in. Nevertheless, numerous theories have come about in the wake of the video’s release. A popular belief is that the un-edited footage of a New Syrian Army announcement was obtained by Daesh, who added their black flag and commentary before posting the raw footage to discredit the New Syrian Army.
It’s not a far-fetched claim. Further research reveals that the same video appeared in a news broadcast from Alaan TV in November 2015 discussing the New Syrian Army, of which at-Talla’ is a member, although the video is edited and the American voice is never heard.
The authenticity of the video has not been confirmed at this time. If indeed correct, it raises questions as to how Daesh took possession of the video and how closely American forces are working with the various militant groups in Syria who fight Daesh and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
