US President Donald Trump’s decision to launch strikes against Syria in the wake of a major chemical weapons attack provoked outrage from the far-right groups who were his most aggressive supporters. As rumors of the impending strikes broke, they launched an online campaign claiming that the chemical attack had been a hoax.

Source: Mike Cernovich / Twitter

The hashtag followed two days of reporting by the so-called “alt-right” — anti-Islam, anti-immigrant, socially conservative and, until the strikes, vociferously pro-Trump — that the chemical attack had been staged.

The DFRLab has traced the origins of the story, and found that the alt-right coverage was based on a report in a propaganda outlet linked to the Assad regime.

Starting in Syria

The chemical attack came at dawn, local time, on April 4. It was widely reported and provoked outrage and condemnation, triggering immediate calls for an investigation. Photographs and videos from the scene showed hideous images of dead children and footage of rescuers, including the White Helmets group, washing down victims.

The same day, website Al-Masdar News, which supports the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, published an article claiming that the story was a “false flag” operation:

Source: Al Masdar news / Twitter

“Merely hours after the alleged chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhun, supposedly by the Syrian government, holes are beginning to emerge from opposition sources, discrediting the Al-Qaeda affiliated White Helmets claims.”

The article argued that the attack could not have been carried out with sarin gas, as the emergency responders seen in some of the images (including the one in the tweet) were not wearing gloves to handle the victims.

It also quoted a post from an outlet called Orient TV, tweeted by Twitter account @WithinSyriaBlog, which spoke of covering chemical attacks in the area the day before the strike.

Source: Al-Masdar. Screenshot showing the embedded post. The tweet itself was archived on April 4.

Finally, it highlighted, and underlined in uneven ink, a tweet from a doctor on the scene who was offering to give interviews:

Source: Al-Masdar. Note the pattern of underlining. The original tweets were archived here and here on April 7.

The article was written by Paul Antonopolous, the deputy editor of Al-Masdar news and a self-described frequent contributor to Kremlin state media channel RT. A search for his name on RT’s website showed that he has been interviewed twice.

Al-Masdar news is owned by Leith Abou Fadel, an Assad loyalist with close ties to the regime. It serves as an unofficial government outlet, and has repeatedly attacked regime critics and witnesses to regime atrocities, notably the White Helmets.

Picked up by the alt-right

Over the next two days, the al-Masdar piece was picked up by a number of pro-Kremlin and anti-Western sites.