Left-liberal CNN is accused of deliberately fabricating a story about a release from a Syrian prison after the fall of the Assad government.
An “ordinary citizen” the broadcaster claims to have found in a “secret prison” has been revealed to be an intelligence officer accused of involvement in murder, torture and extortion.
CNN’s foreign correspondent, Clarissa Ward, was filmed claiming to find a prisoner lying under a blanket in a Damascus jail cell with an armed rebel fighter, days after the Assad government was toppled.
In the clip, it appears that the locked cell is found by chance, and when Ward, who speaks English throughout, enters it, she discovers a man lying under a blanket who thanks her, kisses her hand and is escorted out of the building.
“In nearly twenty years as a journalist, this was one of the most extraordinary moments I have witnessed”, Ward herself claimed.
“Syria is free.”
Extraordinary moment as @clarissaward and her team witness a Syrian prisoner freed from a secret prison in Damascus.
Left alone for days without food, water or light, the man was unaware Bashar al-Assad’s regime had fallen. pic.twitter.com/ZAnGiBlLON
Introduced as Adel Ghurbal from the city of Homs, and as an “ordinary citizen”, the man is falsely reported to have been imprisoned for months and not given food or drink for days.
Well-fed and well-trimmed
According to the man himself, he had been interrogated by the Syrian security services because of the content of his phone and had also been beaten.
When the video was released, many people pointed out that the prisoner’s beard and hair were trimmed and his nails well-trimmed. Nor did he appear emaciated or dehydrated – which would have been normal after months in a dark cell and days without food and drink.
It was soon revealed that the man was no ordinary citizen, but Salama Mohammad Salama – known as Abu Hamza and a first lieutenant in the Syrian Air Force intelligence service.
The intelligence officer is said to have been imprisoned over a dispute with a superior over the distribution of extortion money, but is also accused of being involved in murder, torture and corruption-related crimes.
Salama in uniform at his desk. Photo: Unknown
Disappeared after the feature
According to Syrian fact-checker Verify-Sy, Salama was “involved in theft, extortion, and coercing residents into becoming informants” and is also accused of “killed civilians, and was responsible for detaining and torturing numerous young men in the city without cause or on fabricated charges”.
That the CNN story about the released “ordinary citizen” was false and fabricated is a fact. However, it is unclear whether the news organization knew the man’s story in advance and deliberately chose to manipulate its readers – or whether they themselves were deceived.
After a storm of criticism, CNN itself published an article admitting that the man in the news report had apparently worked for the country’s intelligence service and had been accused of various crimes.
It now claims that it is “unclear how or why Salama ended up in the Damascus jail”, and states that his “current whereabouts are unknown”, and that it has therefore not been able to contact him to ask more questions.
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Donald Trump’s harsh criticism of Israel and his call for the country to stop bombing Iranian targets has not been well received by the influential and bellicose Israel lobby.
American-Israeli opinion maker and lobbyist Emily Schrader is one of those calling for the hostilities to continue, going so far as to claim that Trump “is in bed with Qatar”.
Although the stated goal of the Israeli and then US attacks on Iran was initially claimed to be to eliminate the country’s ability to develop nuclear weapons, a long line of Israeli and neoconservative American voices have quickly shifted focus and are now demanding that the Iranian regime be overthrown – with US help.
After Trump criticized Israel in harsh terms and ordered the country’s military to stop bombing Iran, the Israeli lobby’s anger was not long in coming – and several of the figures who recently praised Trump for bombing Iranian nuclear facilities are now trying to discredit the president and portray him as an enemy.
One of those most upset that Trump has taken a stand against Israel’s bombing is Emily Schrader, who has long been involved in two issues: overthrowing and replacing the Iranian regime and increasing US support for Israel.
The lobbyist, who has both US and Israeli citizenship, claims that Trump “is in bed with Qatar” because he has demanded that the bombings stop.
Trump literally bombed Iran — he did that! — for this country’s government.
The next day, if he doesn’t obey the next order they make up for him to do, Netanyahuists say he’s part of the Qatar World Conspiracy. Clockwork.
She also states that Iran’s leadership must be overthrown – and claims that no other alternatives are acceptable.
“The only way to ensure peace in the region is a regime change in Iran. It doesn’t have to be done through war, but it must be done. Trump is painfully naive as to the ideology and motivating factors of the Islamic regime in Iran”, she claims.
In another angry post, she claims that “In the last 24 hours, Donald Trump guaranteed a future war”.
In the last 24 hours, Donald Trump guaranteed a future war.
Critics point out that the Israel lobby is never satisfied – regardless of the concessions and efforts the US makes to appease Tel Aviv – and that they are only interested in supporting Trump if they can exploit him for their own purposes.
“Trump literally bombed Iran – he did that! – for this country’s government. The next day, if he doesn’t obey the next order they make up for him to do, Netanyahuists say he’s part of the Qatar World Conspiracy”, says Curt Mills, executive director of The American Conservative.
“If this isn’t evidence they’ll discard and mock him once he’s no longer president and they’ve used him, nothing is”, he continues.
AIPAC endorsed 362 candidates and won in every primary we had a candidate on the ballot!
We helped our friends win and defeated 11 anti-Israel candidates.
The Nordic Times has previously highlighted the remarkable influence of the Israel lobby over American politics – and, among other things, pointed out how AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel lobby group, openly boasted during the last election that almost all the candidates they had financed won their respective elections.
“AIPAC endorsed 362 candidates and won in every primary we had a candidate on the ballot! We helped our friends win and defeated 11 anti-Israel candidates”, they proudly declared.
President Donald Trump is beginning to realize that Israel does not want peace – but is doing everything it can to drag the US into a major war with Iran. This is the conclusion of Middle East expert and political scientist Trita Parsi.
“If Trump wants peace and for the US and Iran to strike a deal, he has no choice but to FORCE Israel to accept that America has to put America first”, he emphasizes.
In a widely shared video clip on social media, President Donald Trump launches a fierce attack on Israel shortly after the country intensified its bombing of Tehran just hours after Trump announced that the parties had agreed to a ceasefire.
– Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out, and they dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I’ve never seen before, the biggest load that we’ve seen. I’m not happy with Israel. When I say, ‘Okay, now you have 12 hours’, you don’t go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So, I’m not happy with them.
– I’m not happy with Iran either. But I’m really unhappy if Israel’s going out this morning because of one rocket that didn’t land that was shot, perhaps by mistake, that didn’t land. I’m not happy about that. We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the [bleep] they’re doing. Do you understand that? said the visibly upset president to a journalist.
WOW!
The longer video in which Trump says Israel and Iran “don’t know what the FUCK they are doing” is really important to watch.
He is really unhappy with Israel because as soon as a ceasefire was struck, Israel used the last hours of the war to massively attack Iran.
Even on his own platform, Truth Social, Trump sharpened his tone toward the Israelis and ordered them to stop the bombings.
“Israel. Do not drop those bombs. If you do it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, now!” he wrote.
Photo: facsimile/Trump/Truth Social
Continued bombing
In a later post, Trump claimed that “Israel is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home, while doing a friendly ‘plane wave’ to Iran”.
“Nobody will be hurt, the ceasefire is in effect”, he promised.
Shortly thereafter, however, Iranian news agencies reported that Israel had carried out attacks in the western part of the country. According to ISNA, explosions were heard near the cities of Babol and Babolsar, while the Mehr news agency said the projectiles struck an empty, uninhabited area.
Israeli officials told The Times of Israel that the IDF had carried out “a minor strike” against an Iranian radar north of Tehran in response to an earlier attack by Iran.
“The US must put its own interests first”
Swedish-Iranian political scientist and Middle East expert Trita Parsi has reacted to Trump’s tone towards his closest ally and believes that Trump seems to be beginning to understand that Israel is not interested in creating peace in the region – and will do everything it can to drag the US into the war.
“Trump is also starting to discover the core of the problem: Israel doesn’t want peace and doesn’t want to allow the US to stay out of the war Israel unnecessarily started. If Trump wants peace and for the US and Iran to strike a deal, he has no choice but to force Israel to accept that America has to put America first “, he writes on X, continuing:
“If he doesn’t, Netanyahu will make sure that Trump puts Israel first and drags the US into an endless war with Iran. There are no other choices”.
In an interview with Democracy Now, Parsi elaborates on his reasoning. He believes that Trump is very frustrated that Israel is ignoring US directives and doing everything it can to escalate the conflict – and ensure that the US also intensifies its military involvement.
– Israel wants to continue this war. Israel wants only unilateral ceasefires in which it is allowed to continue to bomb the countries in question. That’s exactly what it has done in Gaza, that’s what it has done in Lebanon, and they wanted the same thing here. And they wanted to make sure that the United States could not keep itself out of the war that Israel unnecessarily started, Parsi assesses.
As Trump lashes out at Israel for continuing to strike Iran even after his announcement of a ceasefire, analyst @tparsi says the core problem the U.S. president is encountering in his Middle East diplomatic efforts is that “Israel does not want peace.” pic.twitter.com/xAYuHingsc
He believes that Trump is genuine in his desire to reach a sustainable ceasefire agreement and put an end to the fighting – but that the president has chosen the wrong path and methods.
– I think he was genuine about getting the ceasefire, staying out of this. We have seen the revolt that has taken place in large parts of his own base. And now, he’s discovering that the Israelis, at the end of the day, wanted to drag him to this point in order to keep him in the war, not allow him to get out of the war or not allowing a peace or a ceasefire to break out.
Initially, the bombing campaign against Iran was said to be about preventing the country from acquiring nuclear weapons – a message repeated by neoconservatives and Israeli voices for over 40 years.
However, Israeli representatives and Republicans soon began declaring that the Iranian regime must be overthrown, by force if necessary, and replaced with a more pro-Israel and Western-friendly government. Even Trump has expressed support on social media for forcing regime change in Iran, which has led to harsh criticism from his own voter base.
In the middle of Florida’s swamplands, the state is now building a new migrant detention center. According to the authorities, nature’s own predators will contribute to security—and make the facility both cheap and effective.
The new facility, informally known as “Alligator Alcatraz”, is being built at Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport, a defunct airport facility 36 miles west of Miami. The site is surrounded by wetlands and swampy areas that are home to alligators, pythons, and other predators.
– You don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter. If people get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons, said Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier in a presentation video.
The video describes the detention center as key to implementing President Trump’s plan for mass deportations, accompanied by slow-motion clips of attacking alligators.
Uthmeier calls the project “cost-effective” and describes the area as “an old, virtually abandoned airport facility right in the middle of the Everglades”. According to information from the Department of Homeland Security, the facility is expected to cost the state approximately $450 million per year to operate. He has also confirmed that the Florida National Guard will participate in the operation of the center, which will consist of lighter infrastructure such as tents and trailers.
Alligator Alcatraz: the one-stop shop to carry out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda. pic.twitter.com/96um2IXE7U
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) June 19, 2025
“Cost-effective and innovative”
The facility is scheduled to be completed in the first week of July and will be one of several temporary facilities that Florida is setting up to meet the increasing strain on the federal system. According to Uthmeier, the federal government has approved the state’s plans to create 5,000 detention places in Florida as early as this summer.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem called the initiative “cost-effective and innovative” in a post on X, highlighting the collaboration with Florida as an example of how capacity can be expanded in a matter of days. The state’s offer to purchase the land from Miami-Dade County for $20 million is based on an executive order from Governor Ron DeSantis and an emergency order from the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
Under President Trump’s leadership, we are working at turbo speed to deliver cost-effective and innovative ways to deliver on the American people’s mandate for mass deportations of criminal illegal aliens. We will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our…
The Minister of Justice assures that the rule of law will be upheld.
– We will give them the legal process that the courts say they are entitled to, Uthmeier said in an interview with conservative commentator Benny Johnson.
Environmental activists are furious
However, the initiative has drawn criticism from political opponents, particularly environmental activists and groups advocating mass immigration. Friends of the Everglades, which took part in a protest against the construction over the weekend, has warned in an open letter that the project threatens an ecologically sensitive area.
The group calls the site “critical to the future of the Everglades” and warns against opening it up to development in what it describes as one of America’s most iconic and vulnerable ecosystems.
– It really strikes you as a clueless idea that was off the cuff, the group’s executive director, Eve Samples, told CNN. She also pointed out that the same site was the subject of protests back in the 1970s, when plans for a huge airport were halted after massive public opposition.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has also expressed concern about the project.
– We continue to have significant concerns about the scope and scale of the state’s effort, particularly regarding the environmental safeguards, she said in a statement, warning that the rapid pace of implementation leaves little time for reflection and risk assessment.
Israel’s campaign against Iran is characterized by unrealistic hopes for regime change, in which the son of the deposed Shah, Reza Pahlavi, could emerge as a pro-Israeli puppet leader for a new Iran.
This is the view of Elfadil Ibrahim, a geopolitical writer and analyst, who warns that the strategy risks creating the same chaos as previous foreign interventions in the region.
In an article for the think tank Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Ibrahim describes how the Middle East is a region where history rarely repeats itself exactly, but where it often “rhymes in ways that are both tragic and absurd”. According to him, this is particularly evident in Israel’s current strategy toward Iran.
The campaign, which on the surface is about knocking out Iran’s nuclear and military capabilities, actually has more far-reaching ambitions: to overthrow the Islamic Republic and replace it with a friendly regime under Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah.
“This is not a policy officially declared in Jerusalem or Washington, but it lingers in the background of Israel’s actions and its overt calls for Iranians to ‘stand up’ to the Islamic Republic”, the writer notes.
Israel wants to get rid of the mullahs for good—and wants to see a pro-Israel government in their place. Photo: Khamenei.ir
He highlights Reza Pahlavi’s visit to Israel in April 2023 as an important symbolic act. During the visit, Pahlavi prayed at the Western Wall but refrained from visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount and made no attempt to meet with Palestinian leaders. An analysis by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs described the visit as a message that Israel considers Pahlavi “the main leader of the Iranian opposition”.
CIA overthrew secular leader
Israeli officials have also openly expressed a desire for regime change. Ibrahim quotes former intelligence minister Gila Gamliel as saying that “window of opportunity has opened to overthrow the regime”.
According to Ibrahim, what could have been dismissed as diplomatic gamesmanship has instead developed into “a strategic bet” in which military pressure is hoped to create conditions for a political shift entirely to Israel’s liking.
“The irony is hard to overstate. It was foreign intervention that set the stage for the current enmity”, he states bluntly.
The writer is referring to the 1953 coup in which the CIA and MI6 overthrew the democratically elected Mohammad Mossadegh and reinstated the Shah an intervention that paved the way for totalitarian rule, growing anti-imperialism, and the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
The Shah was reinstated when Prime Minister Mossadegh was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by the CIA and MI6. Photo: Pahlavi.org, fararu
“The coup reinstalled the Shah, whose autocratic rule and dependence on the West bred a potent mix of anti-imperialist sentiment and religious fervor”, he explains, continuing:
“The 1979 Islamic Revolution, in its own way, was a delayed reaction to 1953, a radical assertion of national sovereignty over foreign interests. Now, Israel and the US seem to believe that a new foreign-backed intervention could be the solution to a problem the last one helped create”.
Israel’s preferred leader
In his analysis, Ibrahim points out that Israel’s air strikes since June 12 have targeted more than just nuclear facilities. Among the targets are government institutions, the headquarters of state television, and the notorious Evin prison, where political prisoners are held.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the conflict as a path to liberation for the Iranian people. “As we achieve our objective”, Netanyahu said in a video message addressed to the Iranians, “we are also clearing the path for you to achieve your freedom”.
The name of the operation, Operation Rising Lion, is also, according to Ibrahim, a clear reference to Iran’s pre-revolutionary flag and the legacy of the monarchy.
Several analysts believe that a weak, easily manipulated leader such as Pahlavi would have benefited both Israel and the US. Photo: Benjamin Netanyahu/FB
However, the geopolitical analyst emphasizes that there is considerable uncertainty surrounding what a regime change in Iran would actually entail in practice. He points out that Israel’s public support for Pahlavi contrasts with official statements that the Iranian people themselves should choose their leaders.
“Reza Pahlavi has spent decades cultivating an image as a democratic statesman-in-waiting. In interviews, he speaks of a future decided by a popular referendum, backed by detailed proposals like a 100-day transition plan. To Israel’s delight, his alignment extends beyond symbolism to the core of Israeli strategic thinking”.
During his visit to Israel, he dismissed the nuclear agreement negotiations as a “waste of time” and claimed that “the quickest way to eliminate all threats” is to invest in an alternative to the Iranian regime.
Many remember the Shah’s torture chambers
But Ibrahim warns that Pahlavi’s vision – including ideas about “Cyrus agreements” and a reborn friendship between the Persian and Jewish peoples – is unrealistic in today’s Iran.
He points out that for many, the name Pahlavi is still associated with the security service “SAVAK torture chambers, lavish corruption, and dependence on foreign powers for viability” and emphasizes that even though there is widespread dissatisfaction with the mullahs’ rule, many still remember the Shah with deep hatred and contempt.
“Death to the oppressor, be it the Shah or the Leader”, was one of many similar slogans chanted during opposition protests in Tehran in 2022.
“The monarchy Israel hints at reviving was not merely overthrown in 1979, it was actively rejected by a powerful coalition of Islamists, leftists, and nationalists united against the Shah’s repression. This legacy of popular rejection severely curbs Reza Pahlavi’s appeal today”, the writer continues, assessing that Pahlavi is in fact perceived by many Iranians as “opportunistic” and “disconnected from the Iranian people”.
Elfadil Ibrahim is a writer and analyst with a particular focus on Sudan. His work has been published in The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The New Arab, and several other media outlets. Photo: Private
Iran’s future must be decided by Iranians
He further argues that it is extremely dangerous for Israel to try to force or hasten a “popular” uprising through assassinations and bombings, pointing out that even within the opposition there are many who do not want to see a new Iranian regime forced upon them by a foreign power rather than by the Iranian people themselves.
“In addition, the fantasy that a successor regime in Tehran would be inherently friendly to Israel ignores deep-seated suspicion embedded through decades of conflict, propaganda, and animosity now being cemented by overt foreign intervention. Even Reza Pahlavi, if somehow installed, would likely face immense pressure to distance himself from any perception of being ‘Israel’s man in Iran'”, Ibrahim continues.
The analyst believes that Israel certainly has the capacity to weaken the Islamic Republic significantly, but that it will never be able to conjure up a new, pro-Israeli Iran from the ashes, least of all by promoting a “successor from a fallen dynasty that Iranians have long since rejected”.
“In the end, the future of Iran should be decided not in Jerusalem or Washington, but by Iranians themselves – on their own terms, in their own time”, he concludes.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, known as the Shah of Iran, took power in 1941 after his father was forced to abdicate under British and Soviet pressure. His rule was characterized by rapid modernization, but also by brutal political repression, systematic persecution of dissenters, growing social and economic inequalities, and a strong dependence on Western powers, especially the United States and the United Kingdom.
In 1951, Mohammad Mossadeq was elected prime minister and quickly became popular for his policy of nationalizing the country's oil industry, which was then controlled by the British. This led to a crisis that culminated in a coup in 1953, orchestrated by the CIA and MI6, in which Mossadeq was overthrown and the Shah's power strengthened. The coup created widespread hatred of foreign interference and undermined popular faith in the monarchy.
The Shah's authoritarian rule was characterized by oppression and harsh repression through the corruption of the security services (SAVAK) and widening social divisions. Dissatisfaction grew during the 1970s, uniting various opposition forces - Islamists, leftist activists and nationalists - in opposition to the Shah's regime.
In 1979, the Shah was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution, which at the time was seen by many Iranians as a way to regain national independence and end both the Shah's oppression and Western influence. After the revolution, however, the new clerical leadership quickly purged former allies of the opposition, including leftist activists, nationalists and secular groups. Through persecution, arrests and executions, the ayatollahs consolidated their power and established a one-party theocratic state, which many observers say has become even more brutal than the Shah's rule.
