Al Masdar News

''Al-Masdar News'' (sometimes abbreviated ''AMN'') () was an online newspaper founded by Leith Abou Fadel. Al-Masdar is Arabic for "the source". ''Al-Masdar''s coverage focuses largely on conflict zones in the Middle East: Syria, Yemen, and Iraq. ''Al-Masdar'' has been described as being favorable to President Bashar al-Assad during its coverage of the Syrian civil war. As of 2023, it appears to be inactive.

Background

Leith Abou (Zaid) Fadel graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 2013 with a bachelor's degree in economics. He launched ''Al-Masdar News'' (AMN) in August 2014 as a media service that provides frontline news and analysis from the Middle East. Before launching AMN, he was the editor of the websit
Electronic Resistance
which is currently inactive. Electronic Resistance has been described as "Hezbollah-linked".

Position

The website was described by the BBC and ''Newsweek'' as having a pro-Syrian government viewpoint, while ''The Independent'' describes it as "sympathetic to the Syrian regime". ''The New York Times'' has described it as a "pro-government website". Leonid Bertshidsky writing in Bloomberg News, also calls ''Al-Masdar'' "somewhat pro-Assad." ''The National Interest'' describes it as "pro-Assad". ''The Jerusalem Post'' describes it as "generally supportive of the Syrian regime". The ''New Statesman'' calls it a "regime-supporting outlet". The Deputy Editor Chris Tomson has described himself on social media as a "hardcore Assadist on the inside."

Notable reports, fake news and disinformation

In 2015, ''The New York Times'' accused Fadel of spreading unfounded misinformation about a victim of the Petra László incident: after a right-wing Hungarian journalist assaulted a Syrian refugee, Fadel falsely reported that the refugee was “a former member of Jabhat Al-Nusra (Al-Qaeda)” adding “looks like Europe will be receiving more Islamist scumbags.” Although Fadel withdrew his allegation, it was picked up by a right-wing commentator Ezra Levant, among others.

Following the April 2017 Khan Shaykhun chemical attack in the Idlib Governorate, ''al-Masdar News'' published an opinion article by deputy editor Paul Antonopoulos entitled "Jumping to conclusions; something is not adding up in Idlib chemical weapons attack".

A report by the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) published three days later described a "digital forensics" trail which showed how this ''Al-Masdar'' opinion article was used as a source by conspiracy, pro-Russian and far-right websites, in particular InfoWars, which recycled Antonopoulos' article in a piece by Mimi al Laham. It described ''Al-Masdar News'' as "an unofficial government outlet" and said that it had "repeatedly attacked regime critics and witnesses to regime atrocities, notably the White Helmets." ''Business Insider'' showed the conclusions in the ''AMN'' article differing markedly from those of other analysts, specifically Fred Hof (director of the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East), US defense officials, President Donald Trump and Dr. Monzer Khalil (rebel-held Idlib Province's health director). ''Business Insider'' reporter Natasha Bertrand described Leith Abou Fadel, the editor of ''Al-Masdar'', as someone who had pushed a conspiracy theory in the past, and described him as an "Assad loyalist".

After Antonopoulos was shown to be active on the neo-Nazi site Stormfront, he was forced to resign from ''Al-Masdar'' on 28 April 2017. ''Al-Masdar'' issued a statement on behalf of its board of directors, saying they found his behaviour "wholly unacceptable" and strongly condemned it, while also apologizing to its readers and all those offended by his actions.

A 2018 report by the Alliance for Securing Democracy, based on analysis of its "Hamilton 68" database of Russian disinformation Twitter accounts, showed that ''Al-Masdar'' is a main source of Syria-related propaganda for Russian accounts aimed at US audiences.

References

{{reflist

Arab news agencies
Internet properties established in 2014
Arabic-language websites
Disinformation operations