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'IS' supporters hack Syrian rights website

July 8, 2015

Alleged supporters of "Islamic State" have hacked the website of a Syrian human rights group, deleting files and posting death threats. Days ago, a video surfaced that appears to show two Syrian activists being killed.

https://p.dw.com/p/1FvGY
Fighters from the al-Qaida linked Islamic State group, march in Raqqa, Syria.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack happened on Wednesday, causing the Britain-based group to take down its website. According to its Facebook page, the organization has been "documenting the human rights situation in Syria and reporting all human rights violations" since May 2006, and has reported abuses on all sides of the conflict. It relies on a network of correspondents on the ground, including in areas controlled by "Islamic State" ("IS").

The Observatory's director, Rami Abdelrahman, said members of a group calling themselves "The Cyber Army of the Khilafah" deleted files from the Observatory's site, and posted a mock image of him in an orange jumpsuit kneeling beside a black-clad militant holding a knife. The picture imitates scenes from IS execution videos, whose victims have included journalists and aid workers.

Abdelrahman told news agency Reuters the attack would not frighten the group away from its work. "They are trying to stop us," he said.

"When you work in human rights, you know you get such threats but never like that. It is a serious message."

Abdelrahman frequently appears on Arabic television channels, and the Observatory's site is regularly quoted by the media. The hackers allegedly also posted messages in English and Arabic using threatening and derogatory language toward the group. In the past, the site has received letters, tweets and emails from the Syrian government and extremists such as the al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, but Abdelrahman says this attack goes beyond that.

The cyberattack comes just days after a video was released by IS purporting to show the execution of two young Syrian activists in the northern city of Raqqa. The extremists said the men had confessed to spying.

A recent hearing in the US Senate revealed that a training program in Syria which aimed to turn out almost 6,000 local fighters per year to help battle IS has only produced 60.

an/kms (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)