Controversy over how an Israeli journalist entered Syria and filmed a report from Damascus for Israeli TV
Israeli Channel 12 intends aired a documentary on Monday evening as part of its investigative program “Uvda/The Truth,” documenting the visit of Israeli journalist Itai Anghel to Damascus a few days after the fall of Bashar al Assad’s regime, in a move that sparked widespread anger in Syrian circles.
Anghel promoted his new film, “In Syria After Assad,” through a video that focused on Iranian military sites and others that were under the control of the Syrian regime.
According to the Times of Israel, Anghel was able to find classified materials in the Iranian embassy in Damascus shortly after the collapse of the regime.
In the film’s trailer, Anghel is shown wandering the markets of Damascus, entering abandoned military headquarters that were used by Iran and the Syrian regime, and interviewing soldiers from the Syrian army after the revolution, according to his claim.
Anghel spoke about the details of his visit, saying, “Everything was open, you could go into the bases and even the Iranian embassy… I found passports and photos there, it’s hard to believe how exposed everything was”.
Speaking about entering the abandoned Iranian embassy, he claimed that there were hidden doors inside the embassy building, behind which was a huge server farm and many files.
He added, “They shredded some documents, but many of them remained intact… You can see classified material still in place… This was the center of Iran’s greatest power, and this is where they ran Hezbollah”.
He noted that he wasn’t the only one who entered these sites, “Of course, the Israelis were there too during the first chaotic days, to gather intelligence”.
He added, “I was walking around alone inside military bases, and it was possible to take hand grenades or even warheads for fighter planes”.
After the news appeared, the way and how an Israeli journalist appeared in the middle of the Syrian Capital, sparked a wave of anger among Syrians.
Anghel posted on X, photos of him being in a café in Damascus, while smoking a hookah, accompanied it with the comment: “From Damascus”.
https://x.com/itaianghel/status/1893574910200480099
It’s worth noting that Itai Anghel, is an investigative journalist, holds US and Israeli citizenship, and it believed that he entered Syria via his US passport, without anyone knowing that he was Israeli.
This led to popular protests, with demonstrators taking to the streets in Hijaz Square in central Damascus, Tuesday, demanding that Anghel be expelled from Syrian territory and that no Israeli be allowed into the country.
The protest also witnessed a rejection of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statements about southern Syria.
Netanyahu had stated on Sunday that Israel wouldn’t accept any threat to the Druze community in southern Syria or any deployment of the new administration’s forces there, stressing the need to make southern Syria completely demilitarized.
