Women’s Defamation Campaigns: Is the Threat Over?
Under Assad’s rule, while opposition voices were systematically suppressed, female activists faced a double burden: intensified smear campaigns specifically designed to obstruct their independent political roles.
By Tammam Saymoua – Lara Aizouqi
Within the Syrian political and social context under Assad’s rule, the targeting of female activists was not an isolated nor a temporary incident but rather a component of a systematic effort to suppress opposing voices, particularly among women. Beyond direct repression and arrests, smear campaigns constituted a more insidious form of control, effectively transforming activists into stigmatized figures within their communities. These campaigns served the dual purpose of silencing women and discrediting the protest movement, while also reinforcing patriarchal social structures that constrain women’s political agency. This article examines the online smear campaigns deployed against female activists in Damascus and as-Sweida following the August 2023 protests.
The attack starts in as-Sweida
Following several months of the peaceful sit-in that began in August 2023 to demand political change in Al-Karama Square, in the center of as-Sweida city in southern Syria, a feeling began to creep in that something had changed. The joy and anger that filled the square gradually turned into anxiety and caution. The rhetoric became less enthusiastic, and words were chosen carefully.
The reason for this sudden change was an electronic smear campaign, which mainly targeted women participating in the protests. These campaigns resorted to publishing photos and names of female activists, accompanied by direct insults. This campaign had an impact that went beyond direct verbal abuse, especially within the conservative society of as-Sweida, where women’s reputations are very sensitive. Who was behind these campaigns? And what is the real goal of trying to exclude women from the protest scene? This investigation reviews the details of targeting activists and the impact that campaign had on activists and society.
The tongues of imaginary Generals
In conjunction with these defamation campaigns, the general atmosphere began to change, and fear of the unknown began to dominate the scene, and a feeling crept in that a new phase of repression had begun, and that the defamation campaigns targeting activists were only the beginning of a more influential security escalation.
Since its first days, an electronic defamation campaign targeted as-Sweida activists in early March 2024, in Facebook pages topped with pictures of President Assad and his generals, repeating a narrative identical to that of the former regime. These accounts published pictures and names of activists, accompanied by accusations and insults, the most prominent of which were accounts with names such as As-Sweida Minute by Minute and As-Sweida on the Edge of the Abyss.
We tracked down one of these fake accounts, the most famous of which bears the name Jad Ismail, which was founded in March 2024. The user did not post any personal photos of himself, but rather posted a photo of one of the former regime’s generals, Issam Zahreddine, who was subjected to Western sanctions and killed in the war in 2017.
As part of our research, we collected 50 posts targeting women between March and May 2024, and conducted a verbal content analysis of what women were exposed to.
To understand the dimensions of the defamation campaigns targeting activists and protesters, it was necessary to study their verbal content. Our team used Word Cloud tool to collect samples of 50 posts, and this analysis allowed us to monitor the recurring keywords that formed the nerve of digital defamation. Upon reviewing the results, we noticed that terms such as “treason” and “collaboration” were prominent, in a systematic attempt to portray the movement in as-Sweida as being supported by external powers such as the United States and Israel. The repetition of these terms in the online texts clearly indicated the existence of an organized narrative aimed at undermining the movement’s legitimacy and turning it into a “foreign conspiracy,” accompanied by derogatory and degrading descriptions of women such as “the black widow” and “she who is nicknamed highway,” which increased the severity of the defamation and belittling of the movement and the activists alike.
Facebook’s grip on as-Sweida’s streets
On 9 August, we met Dima (26 years old), in a quiet corner of one of the city’s cafes. The civil activist who was one of the first to respond to the calls for the August 2023 sit-in, no longer finds public places a safe haven as before. The specter of fear accompanied her every step of the way; the fear that another photo of her would be taken, with toxic comments written under it, or that it would be used against her in one of the smear campaigns targeting her. According to Dima, there is no specific time for defamation. When the opportunity arises, electronic flies spread rumors and offensive speech against her because of her political stance against the former regime. These fake accounts then publish them in open Facebook groups and are transmitted by pages that speak for the regime and have thousands of followers. The number of followers of As-Sweida Minute by Minute page is 116 thousand followers, while As-Sweida on the Edge of the Abyss page has 27 thousand followers, a large number for a governorate whose population does not exceed one million people.
Over the past months, these campaigns have had a profound impact, not only on Dima but on many activists. The smear campaigns have hit them in their most private places, their way of dressing and even their family relationships. They have had to monitor every step and every movement, fearing that it will become material to tarnish their reputation on social media pages. When we asked Dima about the moment when she first felt targeted, she took a deep breath, as if she was gathering the courage to tell the story. She was browsing Facebook in early May 2024, that night when her eyes fell on a photo of her and her father. It was not just a family photo, but it was accompanied by hurtful comments. “They were cursing me and my father with unimaginable words,” she says in a low voice, her eyes avoiding looking at a specific point. At that moment, she began to feel that the world around her had changed. The attack was not targeting her alone; It also extended to include her father, whose social media page was subjected to a torrent of insulting comments attacking his daughter’s participation in the demonstrations against the regime, in an attempt to embarrass him and tarnish his reputation in a conservative society like as-Sweida, where defamation carries a heavy weight.
Dima confirms that her father was in solidarity with her, and tried to alleviate the burden of these campaigns, telling us, “After mid-May, the attacks escalated significantly in terms of the rate of publication and the expansion of the scope of targeting these campaigns against female demonstrators.” Here, the young woman recalls how one of the spontaneous photos she took with her friends on a nature walk was placed in a different context, with the aim of tarnishing her reputation. She goes on to describe her situation, wondering how an innocent photo could become a weapon against her? This was one of the most prominent methods used by dozens of anonymous accounts in defamation campaigns, which prompted her to hide more and stay away from the spotlight.
Dima’s fear was not only from the photos or comments, but from the deliberate distortion that accused her of being an agent because of her work in civil society organizations. “They accused me of being an agent just because I was distributing clothes to the needy,” Dima adds, pointing out how easily the simplest acts of charity can turn into treason in the eyes of these unknown people. The young woman did not resort to the judiciary, not because she did not want to hold those who wronged her accountable, but because her lack of trust in the judicial system made her question the usefulness of this step. For her, the judicial institutions were tools in the hands of the regime, serving its interests and not justice. “How can I put my fate in the hands of those who do not adhere to neutrality?” As the attacks on Dima escalated, several activists faced the same systematic campaigns, such as Sarah Amer (29 years old), who was attacked because of her role in covering the protests. Sarah is a media activist and the director of Aman Foundation since 2021, an organization specializing in documenting violations against women confidentially to ensure their privacy. During our meeting with her, she told us that she was the first target of the smear campaigns that activists were subjected to, saying: “I was targeted like the rest of the activists, despite my personal lack of knowledge of the accounts that were promoting these accusations. I was just doing my job covering events on the ground.”
What distinguishes Sarah from others is the family support she received, which helped her mitigate the impact of the attacks, “Family support was crucial in keeping me strong, especially when my father and I would go to the square to follow the protests”, she said.
The stories of Dima and Sarah are similar in that they were subjected to defamation targeting their reputations due to their social and media activism. Despite the differences in the details between them, the essence of the suffering remains the same: doubting intentions and fabricating accusations aimed at weakening their influence in the public arena. While Dima chose to stay away from the judicial system due to her lack of confidence in its integrity, Sarah found herself facing an additional security restriction in the form of a travel ban, and the two activists were eventually denied a passport before being forced to make a security settlement and pledge not to demonstrate.
Official media’s hands
On the evening of 24 July 2024, a video in which the young man Nour Areej appeared, speaking before religious and social bodies, making startling confessions accusing him of involvement in a network affiliated with the regime aimed at tarnishing the reputation of the governorate’s female activists was circulated in local pages in as-Swayda. In the video, Areej pointed to the involvement of the Syrian News Channel correspondent, Sham Hamdan, in managing an electronic network whose mission was to publish content that abuses female activists, through local Facebook groups, in exchange for money. Later, Areej was handed over to the Criminal Security Department, where he remained in detention on charges related to cybercrimes, without any judicial decision being issued against him at that time.
To delve into the legal and judicial aspects related to this case and other smear campaigns faced by female activists in as-Sweida, the investigation team met with the lawyer and human rights activist Ayman Shieb Al-Din (42 years old). Shieb Al-Din is one of the most prominent legal figures in the governorate and is known for his support of community issues and his advocacy for women’s rights. Shieb Al-Din began by talking about the community nature of as-Sweida, explaining that this tight-knit environment, where everyone knows each other, was a double-edged sword. “The defamation that the protesters were subjected to goes beyond mere personal abuse; it touches the deepest beliefs of this society: the protection of land and honor,” Shieb Al-Din tells us, adding that “targeting women in this way aims to shake their confidence in themselves and their social incubator, which deters them from participating in protests.” Therefore, the smear campaigns tried to exploit the very social values that protect the social fabric to weaken the movement.
Shieb Al-Din points out the number of women who participated in the movement at that time, which “was estimated at one-third of the total participants, which is considered the highest level in Syria. Therefore, undermining their role means undermining the movement itself. The regime was well aware of this, and therefore targeted them directly through organized campaigns.”
How to address this attack by legal means? Here, Shieb Al-Din reviewed the complexities of the legal system: “In theory, those involved can be prosecuted through the Cybercrime Combating Branch. But in reality, the matter is very complicated. Most of the activists wanted for security reasons do not dare to file a complaint for fear of arrest, and the laws do not allow the prosecution of unknown persons.” He added that the problem was not in the judiciary itself but in its implementation, explaining: “The judiciary is able to rule if evidence is available, but the executive arms, such as the Cybercrime Combating Branch, which we tried to contact, refused to cooperate with us.”
What about the slow pace of justice? Are there examples of lawsuits that have been stopped due to this executive obstruction? These are some of the questions we addressed to the lawyer, who answered: “Yes, we have cases that last for more than three years without any mentionable results. This is not just negligence, but in many cases, it is part of a strategy to undermine any attempt at accountability.” On one occasion, he revealed that an armed faction in as-Sweida conducted an investigation with one of those involved in the smear campaigns. That person confessed that he was recruited by media figures linked to the Syrian regime to tarnish the reputation of female activists. Despite the importance of these confessions, which were mentioned in the previous video, Shieb Al-Din said: “I do not accept the results of any investigation outside the judicial framework. Justice must be done through state institutions, otherwise, we give justification for the continuation of chaos.”
The lawyer spoke about the profound impact of these campaigns on women, saying: “The social pressure resulting from defamation makes many of them rethink a thousand times before taking any public step, and the psychological damage resulting from this pressure is not limited to the activists but extends to their families as well.” He concluded by emphasizing the impact of cyber defamation, saying: “Cyber defamation is a crime no less dangerous than real crimes. We must all bear our responsibility in supporting women and rejecting the language of abuse, whether online or in everyday life.”
Local statements facing distortion
In early May 2024, coinciding with the escalation of smear campaigns against female activists, delegations from the movement organized visits to dignitaries and traditional leaders, including religious bodies, to discuss the seriousness of these campaigns and their impact. The delegations carried a joint statement drafted by the authorities, calling for decisive action to curb systematic distortion. As a result of local movements, the smear campaigns gradually subsided, and many of the fake pages and accounts that were targeting female activists disappeared.
A statement by Aql sheikhs (the Druze Religious Leaders) and dignitaries in as-Sweida on the treatment of women participating in as-Sweida movement
However, this relief was temporary; in the same month, Akram Ali Muhammad, a retired officer with the rank of major general, was appointed the new governor of as-Sweida. From the moment he entered the government palace, close to the sit-in square, feelings of anxiety rose among the protesters. The security history of the new governor cast a shadow over the scene; his name was associated with the suppression of protests in Aleppo in 2011, when his forces carried out mass arrests and met demonstrators with bullets and torture, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. Therefore, his appointment as governor of as-Sweida was widely interpreted as a sign of an upcoming security escalation. With his arrival, the general atmosphere gradually began to change, and fear of the unknown began to prevail. Protesters felt that the smear campaigns targeting female activists were only a prelude to a new phase of systematic repression that the regime has been accustomed to for decades, which made a state of anticipation and caution prevail over any sense of comfort.
On 10 October 2024, the regime issued a decision to seize the assets of 15 activists in as-Sweida protests, followed, about month later by issuing official arrest lists through the judiciary. These lists included more than 100 activists, who were charged with “destroying public property and undermining the prestige of the state.” After the electronic smear campaigns, the regime changed its tactics in dealing with the protests. Instead of direct security confrontation, it issued decisions to seize assets and arrest warrants, in an attempt to limit the escalation of protests without resorting to direct security confrontations.
Damascus: The capital of forbidden issues
While as-Sweida was facing widespread smear campaigns that directly targeted female activists, Damascus remained far from this phenomenon in recent years. Although the capital’s activists were not subjected to the same smear campaigns, this does not mean that they were isolated from security pressures.
In Damascus, the suffering took a different form, where tight security restrictions impose a state of constant anxiety, and activists there face challenges related to strict monitoring of their movements and activities. Thus, it appears that the challenges may differ from one region to another, but the result is the same: suppression of civil activity and distortion of any attempt at change. Unlike as-Sweida, where smear campaigns focused on every detail of the activists’ lives, trying to permanently and continuously tarnish their reputation, Damascus witnessed a different type of attacks during previous periods. In the capital, the campaigns were not continuous or focused on specific individuals, but rather came according to the context, occasion, and issues that the activists were close to. When an activist addressed a sensitive issue or raised a controversial topic, waves of smears would begin to flow.
Excluding women from public space
One of those who was subjected to smear campaigns was journalist Suad Al-Masry (45 years old – pseudonym), who spoke about her personal experience. “Since the beginning of the war on Syria, I began civil activism and participated in several trainings on women’s issues and feminist activism,” she began, recalling her career that was accompanied by smear and defamation campaigns. These campaigns were not linked to a specific time or issue. According to Suad, the attacks became more ferocious on occasions related to women, such as when the topic of women’s empowerment was raised or when discussing their participation in public affairs. At these moments, “electronic campaigns would flare up with sarcasm and mockery, and the issue would be trivialized and turned into material for sexual stereotyping.”
Here, she describes how the smear campaigns linked her feminist activism to accusations far from reality, such as “prostitution” or “working for foreign agendas.” In a low voice, Suad continued: “In 2015, I began my feminist activism, which was accompanied by the spread of pictures of me inside these workshops, playing the role of a trainer and sometimes a trainee. At first, I received harassing messages, but when I tried to respond and silence the harassers, things turned into mockery of my activism and attacks on my honor.”
Accusations of collaboration and implementing foreign agendas were ready for every activist in her field. For this reason, Suad avoided publishing any of her activities on social media, as the attack she was subjected to in 2015 was a painful experience that prompted her to stay away from social media and avoid engaging in public discussions.
Her email was hacked and stolen after attending the Brussels negotiations. Despite the electronic challenges, it was the personal attacks from some female activists that left the deepest impact. “Most of the comments accused me of not being a feminist, just because I wear the hijab,” the woman tells us with a bitter smile, adding: “For them, either I take off my hijab or I am not a feminist,” and she concludes her speech by saying: “The hijab does not contradict feminism, and this is a problem that feminist circles in Damascus must get rid of.”
Sawsan Zakzak (62 years old) who lives in Damascus, is a member of the Women’s Advisory Council. For years, she has been involved in public work and women’s rights in Syria, and participated in the team of the former UN envoy Staffan de Mistura. She and her colleagues were subjected to attacks in 2016 when they were called “De Mistura’s women,” in an attempt to diminish the value of their independent feminist work, and after he left, they were called “De Mistura’s widows.” These campaigns were launched by influential people, including Nabil Saleh, a journalist and former member of parliament, who was one of the most prominent attackers and mockers of women’s work on the Constitutional Committee.
According to Sawsan, Syrian society, whether pro- or anti- government, does not allow women to reach decision-making positions except in a decorative manner, and the feminist movement remains besieged, as it is prevented from working in the legal sphere. Despite these pressures, she confirms to us that the feminist struggle must continue to achieve women’s independence and break the societal restrictions imposed on them.
The feminist movement under siege in the two cities
The tactics of the campaigns against activists differ clearly between Damascus and as-Sweida. In as-Sweida, these campaigns focus on monitoring the smallest details of the activists’ personal and social lives, and work to distort and misrepresent them on an ongoing basis, which creates continuous pressure on them. As for Damascus, the campaigns are often related to a specific event or occasion, and those moments are exploited to escalate media and security attacks against activists.
To find out the difference between the status of female activists in as-Sweida and the capital Damascus, the investigation team prepared an electronic questionnaire and distributed it to 100 female activists in Damascus and as-Sweida over the course of 20 days, about the smear campaigns they are exposed to.
The questionnaires in Damascus and as-Sweida cities showed the percentage of fear by activists of identifying themselves as activists is the highest in Damascus, where it exceeded 73%, while in as-Sweida it did not exceed 28%. It appears that the space of freedom or social and professional protection and the freedom of women’s work and civil activity has its largest space in as-Sweida compared to Damascus, which is the capital and the headquarters of civil work for all activities.
The graphs of these numbers show the gap, as while as-Sweida appears to be more flexible and relatively safe for civil and women’s work, Damascus, the political and economic center of the state, is under a tighter security grip that makes engaging in public affairs more dangerous. In as-Sweida, despite the influence of tribal and societal traditions to some extent, families or the local community provide a form of protection for female activists, giving them some freedom to express their opinions and practice their civil activities. This is in contrast to Damascus, where the constant presence of intelligence services reduces the space for freedom to speak publicly about sensitive issues or to move in the fields of women’s work, and imposes on women the fear of revealing their identities.
Although the percentage of reservation and concealment of the nature of the activists’ work is close, reaching 47% in Damascus compared to 41% in as-Sweida, the gap is clearly evident in the negative view. In the capital Damascus, according to the answers we received from the questionnaire, the percentage of negative views of women’s work reaches about 32%, which is higher than as-Sweida, which records a percentage of 27.3%.
We also see that female activists are reluctant to advertise and promote their work due to defamation campaigns. 63.2% of female activists in Suwayda told us that they were subjected to defamation campaigns, while the percentage in Damascus drops to 31% according to the answers of female activists surveyed there.
The survey results show clear differences between Damascus and as-Sweida in various areas. In Damascus, sexual defamation accounted for the largest percentage, reaching 58%, while in as-Sweida the percentage was slightly lower, recording 50%. In terms of accusations of collaboration, as-Sweida was the highest at 36%, compared to only 15% in Damascus. As for the axis of women’s incompetence, the percentage in Damascus was 26%, compared to about 13% in as-Sweida.
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According to the survey, activists in Damascus considered that defamation campaigns focus more on defaming reputations through accusations related to personal morality and competence, while in as-Sweida, defamation is more focused on accusations of collaboration and betrayal. These differences reflect the different societal influences and the nature of the challenges women face in each city.
In Damascus, statistics show that 36% of activists received support from their families, while their partners are also considered a source of support by 33%. However, we find that 23% of activists do not receive any support at all, which makes their journey in a world full of challenges more difficult. Even friends, who are supposed to be a solid barrier against such campaigns, represent only 18% of sources of support.
On the other hand, in as-Sweida, we find a slightly different situation. Here, the family records a high percentage of support reaching 42%, which shows the strength of family ties and their positive impact on women activists. While the partner occupies 31%, indicating significant support from close friends and family. Perhaps the most notable feature of the experience of female activists in as-Sweida is that only 15% of them do not find any support, while friends constitute 21% of sources of support, reflecting a more supportive and positive environment in facing challenges than that in Damascus. In the end, female activists in Damascus and as-Sweida share the fact that they face more severe targeting represented by defamation campaigns that attempt to portray them as violating societal values.
The battles have begun now!
On 8 December, with the announcement of the fall of the regime, many aspects of life in Damascus and as-Sweida changed, while some things remained the same. Hanan Zahreddine, a member of the Syrian Feminist Political Movement, sums up the new reality in a clear phrase: “Despite the fall of the regime, the societal mentality has not changed in its view of women,” adding that “the challenges facing women today are no longer just security-related, but also legal and economic. Economic pressure, as Zahreddine sees it, is one of the most deadly weapons, “as it indirectly distances women from areas of influence and returns them to the circle of basic needs.” But the impact was not limited to the economy. Even in the unions in which women are supposed to have a clear role, recent appointments have witnessed attempts to reduce their presence, according to Zahreddine, who points out that some decisions within the Bar Association reproduce exclusionary policies, albeit with new faces.
However, various changes have occurred. In Damascus women gained a greater presence in the public sphere and participated in political committees with diverse social entities. “Women have begun to feel that the country is theirs too,” says Zahreddine, but she also adds: “The situation in Damascus does not reflect that of all Syria.” Therefore, the media spotlight on the capital may hide the suffering of women in the rest of the country, says Zahreddine, stressing that the women’s battle did not end with the fall of the regime, but may have just begun.
This investigation is part of a project implemented by the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression and was published on Khatt 30 on January 27, 2025.
This investigation was conducted before the fall of the Syrian regime
