Between 2013 and 2024, Syrian and Iranian intelligence services fueled a conspiracy surrounding Thwaiba Kanafani, according to which she was a spy working for Israel. The theory, first circulated by members of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, spread like wildfire, forcing her not only to give up armed struggle, but also to leave the country for which she was willing to die.

Dalia Shimon, 25, sits on a low sofa upholstered in red, beige, and brown geometric and floral patterns. The air is thick with palpable tension. The damp, off-white walls seem to echo Shimon’s solemn expression, her piercing gaze standing out in the photograph. A gun rests across her lap. She is visibly uneasy. Why? No one knows for sure.

To her right stands a woman covered in a green veil and wearing a high collar that conceals her neck. On the opposite side is a man with a hard, unsmiling face. He wears a green cap and has a thick beard. He, too, is holding a weapon. But it´s not just any weapon. It´s an RPG. The cap on his head leaves no room for doubt: he belongs to the Free Syrian Army. Or rather, he did. His name is Hossan El Din Malas, and he has just been arrested by the Egyptian authorities, who seized important documents and several photographs from his home, including the one we have just described. Among that vast trove of papers was confirmation that Shimon was, in fact, a dangerous Mossad agent operating in the very heart of the Syrian rebels.

However, much of the information publicly circulated about the image described above does not correspond to reality. On the contrary, it is the product of a disinformation campaign orchestrated by Syrian and Iranian intelligence services, with the aim of discrediting the Free Syrian Army. “Dalia Shimon” is, in fact, Thwaiba Kanafani, a Syrian woman who gave up the comfortable life she had built in Canada to return to her homeland in an attempt to topple Bashar al-Assad’s regime and restore peace to her fellow countrymen.

— But why her? Why not anyone else? you may ask.

First, because she was a woman. In the Arab world, it was not only unexpected but unthinkable that a woman — at the time the only female volunteer from abroad — would have that fire within her; that she would seek change with her own hands. Second, because of the position she held: commander. Her intelligence and pragmatism made her a formidable threat. From the moment she joined the ranks of the Free Syrian Army, she sought to build bridges between the various factions of the Syrian opposition and to rally support for the cause. The source of that support mattered little, but it sealed, to a great extent, her fate within the organization.

“Mossad agents with Free Syrian Army terrorists.” This was how the Turkish digital newspaper Suriye Gerçekleri (“Syria Facts”) framed the issue, in an accusatory tone. The article, published on May 30, 2013, unequivocally accused Kanafani of spying for Israel’s primary intelligence service — the Mossad. It also marked the first reference to “Dalia Shimon,” signaling the beginning of a smear campaign that would continue through 2024. According to the blog Black, Grey, White, run by researcher Arda Mevlütoğlu, the aforementioned outlet was one of the most effective tools in the digital arsenal of Al-Mukhabarat (the Syrian intelligence service), acting as an echo chamber for the former Syrian regime, which has since been overthrown by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. For now, however, the link between Syrian intelligence and the newspaper remains circumstantial and cannot be definitively proven.

What can, in fact, be established, and is readily apparent, is the willingness of a broad range of media outlets to disseminate propaganda from the former Syrian regime, largely aligned with the interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran,........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)