On October 19, lawyer Irakli Zakareishvili published a photo of dead children wrapped in white fabric. At least seven children can be seen in the photo. According to the description of the post, this incident happened an hour ago. Although other details are not specified, the post creates the impression that the photo is related to the Israel-Hamas war, as Zakareishvili has been posting about the Israel-Hamas war since October 7.
The photo was taken in August 2013 and shows children killed by chemical weapons in Ghouta, Syria. Therefore, the photo is not related to the current Israel-Hamas war, but to the Syrian civil war.
The photo, which shows about seven dead children, is available on the Internet since August 2013. One of the results that we find using the reverse image search is a National Geographic article about Syria’s chemical weapons. According to the description of the photo published on the website, the children died in Damascus on August 21, as a result of chemical weapons poisoning.
In addition, the mentioned photo can be found in the archives of Agence France-Presse. According to the description, the photo was released by the Syrian opposition media network Shaam News Network and Syrian rebels say it shows children killed by government forces in a poison gas attack on the outskirts of Damascus on August 21, 2013. Allegations of chemical weapons use in populated areas by UN inspectors emerged on the second day of their mission in Syria, but the claim, which could not be independently verified, was strongly denied by Syrian authorities.
The photo is also posted on Alamy.com, where it is dated August 22, 2013. According to the photo description, Syrian rebels claim that the children were killed in a toxic gas attack on August 21, 2013 in Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus.
On August 21, 2013, in Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, hundreds of people were killed by a Sarin gas attack. Around 2:30 AM., Syria’s deadliest chemical attack took place in an opposition-held suburb. According to various sources, 480 to 1,500 people, including many children, died in their sleep or suffocated elsewhere from the attack. A UN mission investigation a month after the attack on Ghouta confirmed that sarin, one of the most toxic chemical warfare agents, was used in the attack.
The attack came two years after the start of Syria’s civil war between President Bashir Assad’s regime and other opposition forces. According to the conclusion of the international non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW), evidence on the type of missiles and launchers used in these attacks indicates that these systems are owned and used only by the armed forces of the Syrian government. The HRW report also said Syrian opposition forces did not have the 140mm and 330mm rockets or their associated launchers used in the attack.
Based on the above facts, it becomes clear that the image has been on the Internet since at least August 2013 and is related to the Syrian civil war.
About the Source:
Lawyer Irakli Zakareishvili often publishes posts with anti-Western, anti-Ukrainian, and anti-opposition content. Since the emergence of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, 2023, the user has been spreading disinformation regularly. False information spread by Zakareishvili has been debunked by “Myth Detector” many times in the past.
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