• Disrupting Power Since 2015
  • Donate
  • Login
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Canary
MEDIA THAT DISRUPTS
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
MANAGE SUBSCRIPTION
SUPPORT
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
Canary
No Result
View All Result

Channel 4 News promoted known war criminals in Syria, and is now hiding its own report [VIDEO]

Brad Hoff by Brad Hoff
14 October 2016
in Global
Reading Time: 4 mins read
171 1
A A
0
Home Global
320
SHARES
2.5k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

In what is possibly the most shameful Western reporting to come out of Syria recently, a popular British news channel gave positive coverage to known child murderers, and is now hiding its own report from public view.

On Wednesday 5 October, Channel 4 News published a report from Aleppo via its official social media channels. The video report entitled Inside Aleppo: Up Close with the Rebels was presumably featured earlier on Channel 4’s live broadcast. But it has since been removed from public access in what appears to be Channel 4’s censoring of its own embarrassing and disturbing content.

Astute observers on social media, however, had been quick to save the news segment before it disappeared.

https://twitter.com/walid970721/status/784489039730659329

Uncritical coverage of ‘moderates’ in Syria

The segment followed Syrian rebels in East Aleppo fighting the Assad government. In the segment, Channel 4’s correspondent is embedded with the Nour al-din al-Zenki rebel militia and provides narration of the action. Surprisingly, the narrator consistently describes the Zenki group as “moderates” – even going so far as to describe the core of the group as initially formed by “farmers and factory workers” which had only recently turned towards ultra-conservatism as “Islamists”.

But Zenki is the same rebel group that received broad media coverage in July 2016 for the brutal beheading of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy named Abdullah Issa. The boy had reportedly been kidnapped from a hospital. His public decapitation with a small knife by Zenki rebels was filmed and subsequently uploaded to the internet (the rebels themselves referred to the boy as “a child” in the grotesque footage).

The barbaric act and celebratory nature of those who filmed themselves carrying out the crime caused a stir in Washington, as Zenki had been a CIA-vetted group receiving heavy weaponry from the West. A tense State Department briefing ensued, with Associated Press and other reporters demanding accountability from the US government, which had previously been openly supportive of the group.

War crimes glossed over

Even after knowledge of Zenki’s crimes had gone viral, Channel 4 clearly chose to feature this group as representing ‘moderate’ rebels in Syria. And it didn’t once ask the group about the beheading of a child which was, by that time, known around the world.

In fact, Amnesty International had issued a report in July condemning Zenki’s crimes, describing the group as having:

truly plumbed the depths of depravity.

But Channel 4 didn’t only embed itself within Zenki. It also gave favourable coverage to two of the very rebel leaders who directly carried out the child’s beheading. In a 19 August article, The Canary was the first Western news outlet to identify one of them as Umar Salkho.

Zenki leader Umar Salkho (left side)
Zenki leader Umar Salkho (left side)

The same Umar Salkho in Channel 4's footage.
The same Umar Salkho in Channel 4’s footage [screenshot]
Channel 4’s October report featured Salkho throughout. It even uncritically captured a moment where Salkho verbalises plans to attack a bakery as he looks at a map. Amazingly, the narrator rationalises this proposed attack on a presumably civilian target simply as:

their way of defending East Aleppo is to hit back.

Live broadcast segment removed

The Channel 4 footage may have actually captured other war crimes in the making, too. The final scene featured Zenki members capturing civilians, including young children, from a pro-government area. In the scene, the Channel 4 correspondent notes that the first question asked of one nervous civilian by a Zenki fighter was about his ethnic identity (“are you Kurdish?”). The trucks then carry the civilians away to an unknown fate.

On 7 October, Channel 4 hid the video report, marking it as “private” on YouTube. This was possibly in response to an early public outcry on Twitter as people started to recognise Umar Salkho as one of the murderers of 12-year-old Abdullah Issa. The news segment had been accessible for just two days.

The Canary reached out to Channel 4 News for comment, but received no response. That leaves us with the following questions:

Did the channel knowingly attempt to soften the public image of the notorious Zenki group? Was it just ignorant? Or did it take the video down after realising it may have captured war crimes on tape?

While the video remains censored, the public demands answers.

View the censored segment from Channel 4 News below (provided by another YouTube account):

Get Involved!

– Contact Channel 4 News to demand answers.

– Join your local Stop the War Coalition to oppose further escalation in Syria.

– Read more Canary articles on Syria. See more international reporting from us at The Canary Global.

– Support The Canary so we can keep holding the powerful to account.

Featured image: screenshot from “Inside Aleppo: Up close with the rebels”/Twitter

Share128Tweet80
Previous Post

Revealed: the insider evidence that shines a light on one of the biggest police scandals in British history

Next Post

This viral video perfectly sums up what’s wrong with education today, and how we can change it

Next Post
This viral video perfectly sums up what’s wrong with education today, and how we can change it

This viral video perfectly sums up what's wrong with education today, and how we can change it

Robbie Powell: the shocking alleged cover-up of a 10-year-old boy’s death, 26 years ago

Robbie Powell: the medical professionals who could have saved a 10-year-old boy's life

This incredible radio interview is one of the most moving things you’ll hear all week [OPINION]

This incredible radio interview is one of the most moving things you'll hear all week [OPINION]

The week in satire Vol. #17

The week in satire Vol. #17

burnout

How people working for change can move beyond burnout and fear [OPINION]

An open letter from Jewish people calls out the Board of Deputies for stifling criticism of Israel
News

An open letter from Jewish people calls out the Board of Deputies for stifling criticism of Israel

by The Canary
14 May 2025
Image via Zkiah Smith of Greenwich council flats
Analysis

Greenwich council at the centre of a growing fire safety scandal in block of new flats

by HG
14 May 2025
dyfed pension fund actually has over £200m invested in Israel
News

Welsh pension fund has more than 180 times the investments in Israel it claims, so campaigners are taking action

by The Canary
14 May 2025
Thames Water emergency loan is already paying bosses bonuses for them
Analysis

Thames Water £3bn emergency loan is going straight into bosses’ bonuses

by James Wright
14 May 2025
When digital isn’t enough: why paper still matters in modern business
Business

When digital isn’t enough: why paper still matters in modern business

by Nathan Spears
14 May 2025
  • Contact
  • About & FAQ
  • Get our Daily News Email
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy

The Canary
PO Box 71199
LONDON
SE20 9EX

Canary Media Ltd – registered in England. Company registration number 09788095.

For guest posting, contact [email protected]

For other enquiries, contact: [email protected]

The Canary is owned and run by independent journalists and volunteers, NOT offshore billionaires.

You can write for us, or support us by making a regular or one-off donation.

© Canary Media Ltd 2024, all rights reserved | Website by Monster | Hosted by Krystal | Privacy Settings

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • UK
    • Global
    • Analysis
    • Trending
  • Editorial
  • Features
    • Features
    • Environment
    • Lifestyle
    • Health
    • Money
    • Science
    • Business
    • Tech
    • Travel
    • Sport & Gaming
  • Media
    • Video
    • Cartoons
  • Opinion

© 2023 Canary - Worker's co-op.

Before you go, have you seen...?

An open letter from Jewish people calls out the Board of Deputies for stifling criticism of Israel
News
The Canary

An open letter from Jewish people calls out the Board of Deputies for stifling criticism of Israel

Image via Zkiah Smith of Greenwich council flats
Analysis
HG

Greenwich council at the centre of a growing fire safety scandal in block of new flats

dyfed pension fund actually has over £200m invested in Israel
News
The Canary

Welsh pension fund has more than 180 times the investments in Israel it claims, so campaigners are taking action

Thames Water emergency loan is already paying bosses bonuses for them
Analysis
James Wright

Thames Water £3bn emergency loan is going straight into bosses’ bonuses

ADVERTISEMENT
Business
Nathan Spears

When digital isn’t enough: why paper still matters in modern business

Tech
Nathan Spears

How Digital Addictions Are Formed in the Shadow of Large Platforms

Lifestyle
Nathan Spears

Recovery in the Sun: How the Canary Islands are Becoming a Wellness Tourism Hub