Victim of hunger in beseiged Madaya
Supporters of Assad regime and Hezbollah have launched a social media campaign, over the past two days, to mock starving civilians in besieged Syrian village, Madaya.
Supporters posted photos of sumptuous-looking spreads of food including kebabs, grilled prawns, whole fish, chips, salad and mountains of bread with the hashtag #متضامن_مع_حصار_مضايا, meaning “solidarity with the siege of Madaya”.
The photos sparked a new wave of outrage over the continuing crisis, with those using it condemned as “sadistic” and “unbelievably disgusting”. Tweeters also condemned the photos, describing them as “sectarian” and “reflecting the level of lowness that supporters of Hezbollah and March 8 alliance have reached”.
Thousands of Hezbollah supporters tweeted discrediting the news on starvation in Madaya, in response to another hashtag (مضايا تموت جوعًا- Madaya starved to death) started by real supporters of the Syrian village.
The online campaigns began last Thursday evening, after the military media of Hezbollah issued a statement in which he accused opposition militants present in Madaya of «stealing» food and withholding it from the population, denying the existence of victims of hunger in the town. Then, «Al-Manar» TV broadcasted the report of the party which said that the pictures of the victims of hunger in Madaya on networking sites are «fabricated» and «old».
The campaign stretched out to include supporters of March 8 alliance, most notably Charbel Khalil, director of a cynical program on one of the local TV channels, after he posted a photo a group of African men with skinny, scrawny bodies captioned with «Mayor of besieged Madaya and members of the municipal council in their last picture!! », wondering: « Where has conscience gone? » Activists regarded his tweet as « inhumane » and unethical.
Moreover, Madaya’s situation was almost totally shut out after a photo of a girl who is known as “Syrian Mona Lisa” was shared stating that hunger has turned her into a ghost in Madaya. It later turned out that the skinny girl is actually called Mariana Mazeh from southern Lebanon.
Asharq Al-Awsat
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