U.S. President Donald Trump criticized ABC News for sharing a fake video that purported to show a Turkish attack in northern Syria against civilians amid Turkey's Operation Peace Spring.
Trump posted the video on his Twitter account on Thursday with a caption reading "FAKE NEWS!"
Earlier on Sunday ABC News posted the video claiming that the Turkish army was attacking civilians during its anti-terror operation in northern Syria, when in fact the footage it used was from a 2017 military gun show in Kentucky, the U.S.
FAKE NEWS! pic.twitter.com/ta8ii8yetP
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 16, 2019
The shocking footage of explosions quickly attracted attention on social media, but soon after people started to question the video's authenticity.
ABC News later apologized for airing the video.
Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring, the third in a series of cross-border anti-terror operations in northern Syria targeting terrorists affiliated with Daesh and the PKK's Syrian offshoot the People's Protection Units (YPG), on October 9.
The operation, conducted in line with the country's right to self-defense borne out of international law and U.N. Security Council resolutions, aims to establish a terror-free safe zone for Syrians return in the area east of the Euphrates River controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is dominated by YPG terrorists.
The PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union — has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, resulting in the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.
