Destroying statue of Virgin Mary prior to fall of al-Assad regime

Social media accounts recently posted a video showing a man breaking a statue of the Virgin Mary, claiming that it was in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The claim read: “This is the reality in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the takeover of power by the terrorist ISIS member Ahmed al-Sharaa or al-Julani. A Syrian ISIS member attacks Christian shrines in Syria. Syria is lost forever and will not return.”

Kashif verified the video vai “Google Images” tool and found that it is old and the claim is misleading. The video was circulated in October 2013, i.e. before the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on 8/12/2024.

“memritv” published the video on 23/10/2013 under the title: “Sheikh Omar Raghba destroys the statue of the Virgin Mary in a Syrian village: God alone will be worshipped in the Levant.”

Raymond Ibrahim’s channel also posted the video on YouTube on 29/10/2013. The video description reads: “After invading and occupying a Christian area in Syria, a Muslim cleric declared the supremacy of Islam and Islamic law before destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary.”

Kashif was unable to verify the context of the video and the exact time it was captured, but its old publication confirms that it was before the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on 8/12/2024.  

The opposition factions announced on Wednesday 27/11/2024 the start of a military operation called “Deterrence of Aggression.” On Sunday 8/12/2024, they announced in a statement broadcasted on state television the liberation of Damascus and the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule. The opposition added that all detainees had been released. 

After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s rule on 8/12/2024 and Ahmed al-Sharaa taking over the leadership of the new Syrian administration, great concerns were raised about imposing Islamic rule in Syria due to al-Sharaa’s history of joining al-Qaeda led by Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq, and then establishing Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria in 2013, and appearing in an interview on Al Jazeera that year calling for Syria to be run according to Islamic law. Meanwhile, al-Sharaa recently conducted an interview on CNN, during which he spoke about his vision for a new, moderate Syria “that accommodates everyone under one umbrella.”