Supporters of President Assad in Syria have circulated false reports of the death of a British jihadist fighting for Islamic State, in what experts said was an attempt to drum up pity and deflect attention from the regime’s war crimes.
Pro-Assad media outlets published the name and photograph of William Hassmou Kaleenak, claiming that he was one of two Islamic State (Isis) field commanders killed in Deir ez-Zor.
The image in fact showed a Chechen fighter called Bakr al-Gharib, according to a Google+ page carrying it.
Experts said that Assad’s supporters are trying to tap into western outrage at homegrown jihadists’ involvement in beheadings and massacres, after seeing its effectiveness as a propaganda tool.
Charlie Winter, of the anti-extremism Quilliam Foundation, said that pro-Assad outlets