On Monday, the Headquarters for Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Idleb governorate acknowledged that “unacceptable actions and behaviours” were committed by some members of the security forces in the Bab al-Hawa area while hundreds of civilians were heading to the Bab al-Hawa crossing as part of the so-called “Caravan of Light.”
“Following anonymous calls published on social media that called on people to head towards the border strip to cross towards Europe, friction and quarrels occurred by some abusive individuals towards the security forces and police. It increased to exacerbate the situation, until unacceptable actions and behaviours of some members of the security forces were initiated,” HTS said in a statement issued by its media office on Monday.
It added that “several parties present at the site intervened to end the state of tension, followed by a meeting of several media professionals and the concerned authority to find out the reasons for the incident. The concerned party listened to what happened, and the scene was re-described accurately and not as published through social media.”
With regard to the erroneous behaviours, it stressed that the institutions concerned were conducting investigations into the matter to take the necessary regulatory action.
It added that media and journalistic work are protected in the region under the Press Labor Law and procedures that preserve rights.
It called on the media not to exploit the mistakes that occurred by some during the documentation of the event for intimidation, in addition to not marginalizing aspects of the reality of the event, and to convey a different picture of what happened without reducing the size of the mistake committed, in which an extensive investigation was opened.
In a statement, the Syrian Media Association condemned the assault and harassment directed toward several media workers on Monday, which prevented them from performing their media duties in the Bab al-Hawa area north of Idleb by some security members affiliated with HTS.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
