Further Details on a Video Showing a Syrian Fighter Captured in Libya

On January 12, 2020, the Facebook page of Sabratah Operation Room affiliated with the Libyan National Army forces headed by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, published 14 minutes and 42 sec long-video on a person who was captured in the town of Sabratah in Libya by illegal migration squad. The detainee shown in the video confessing his affiliation with Suleiman Shah Brigade (also known as al-Amshat) in the Syrian National Army of the Syrian Interim Government operating under National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, and said that he entered Libya on January 8, 2020, coming from Turkey with other Syrian fighters.

The video started with a man identifying himself as Anas Deeb Fatout, born in 1984 to Khadija al-Mouaed; and saying that he lives in Syria’s Idlib but originally from Shamdeen Square in Ruken Al-Din neighborhood in Damascus.
The man added that he has offered 2000 USD per month and 1000 Turkish Liras- he would receive in Turkey- in addition to obtaining Turkish citizenship/residence, in return for fighting in Libya.

During his talk, the man mentioned the involvement of other Syrian rebel groups including, the Sultan Murad Division and Sham Legion/ Failaq al-Sham. On how he arrived in Libya, he detailed that he and the other 100 fighters went through Afrin to the village of Hawar Kilis at the Turkish border, from where they were taken by buses (5 buses) into Turkey. Then they were flown from Gaziantep to Istanbul by military aircraft-intended for the transport of soldiers- and then moved to a Libyan plane that took them to Libya.

In about 15 minutes, the man detailed about his recruitment and how he was transferred with other fighters from Syria to Libya via Turkey, speaking in a dialect very much like the Libyan. This made activists and people on social media suspect the video to be fabricated by those who attack Fayez al-Sarraj’s National Accord Forces and the Turkish-backed Syrian “National Army.”

Image (1) a screenshot from a video published by Sabratah Operation Room for a fighter of Suleiman Shah Brigade captured in Libya.

In its attempt to verify the video and the included information provided by the detainee, STJ’s “Facts Tracker” team met two individuals close to Anas Deeb Fatout (one resides in the northern rural Aleppo, and the other in Norway), and they both confirmed that Fatout is indeed born to a native-born Syrian father and mother, who had left Syria to Libya in the 1980s. They also stated that Anas spent many years in Libya before returning with his mother to Syria in 2008-after his father’s death-, and settle in Ruken Al-Din neighborhood in Damascus (as he said in the video).

The two sources also confirmed that Anas’s mother later married an Iraqi man and traveled with him to Libya again, while Anas remained in Damascus. However, with the onset of the Syrian uprising, Anas joined the ranks of the opposition’s “Free Syrian Army”, and fought with it in southern Damascus, before he joined Al-Nusra Front/Jabhat al-Nusra rebel group. Anas was transferred with other fighters, evacuated from southern Damascus along with civilians to Idlib province on May 23, 2018, and later joined Suleiman Shah Brigade (also known as al-Amshat).

One of the sources said that Anas told him that he would go to Libya to meet his mother and family, and the only way to reach there was to go as a fighter with the group. The source also said that Anas’ brother was also arrested,[1] two days after Anas’ arrest, as he was told by their family.

[1] STJ hasn’t been able to confirm which of Anas’ two brothers was the arrested; Haider or Muhannad.