Amaq News Agency

Amaq News Agency
وكالة أعماق

Available in	Arabic, English, French
Founder(s)	Rayan Meshaal[1]
Launched	2014.
Current status	Active. http://a3maqnews.com

Amaq News Agency is a news outlet linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). It gets tips from ISIL and is often the "first point of publication for claims of responsibility by the group".^[2]

Character

Amaq publishes a stream of short news reports, both text and video, on an encrypted mobile app. The reports take on the trappings of mainstream journalism, with "Breaking News" headings, and "embedded" reporters at the scenes of ISIS battles. The reports try to appear neutral, toning down the jihadist language and sectarian slurs ISIS uses in its official releases.^[2]

Experts—like Charlie Winter of the Transcultural Conflict and Violence Initiative at Georgia State University, and Rita Katz of SITE Intelligence Group in Washington—say Amaq functions much like the state-owned news agency of ISIS, though the group does not acknowledge it as such. Katz said it behaves "like a state media. ISIS sees themselves as a state, as a country — and a country needs to have its own media".^[2] Amaq appears to have been created, or allowed to develop, by ISIS as a way to have a news outlet that is controlled by the group but is somewhat removed from it, giving ISIS more of the appearance of legitimacy.^[2]

Reliability

According to Chris Tomson of the Assad-friendly Al-Masdar News, Amaq "is usually accurate" when reporting ISIS advances but "never admits caliphate losses."^[3]

According to the New York Times: "Despite a widespread view that the Islamic State opportunistically claims attacks with which it has little genuine connection, its track record — minus a handful of exceptions — suggests a more rigorous protocol. At times, the Islamic State has gotten details wrong, or inflated casualty figures, but the gist of its claims is typically correct. The group has made it clear that it considers itself responsible both for acts carried out by its own personnel, as well as acts carried out by people who lack direct ties to the group but were inspired by its propaganda. In several instances, moreover, the Islamic State has claimed attacks before the identities of the killers were known."^[4]

History

Amaq was created by Syrian journalist Baraa Kadek, who joined IS in late 2013, and 7 others who originally worked for Halab News Network.^[5]

Amaq News Agency was first noticed by SITE during the Siege of Kobanî (Syria) in 2014, when its updates were shared among ISIS "fighters".^[2] It became more widely known after it began reporting claims of responsibility for terrorist attacks in Western countries, such as the 2015 San Bernardino attack, for which ISIL officially claimed responsibility the next day.^[2] An Amaq cameraman shot the first footage of the capture of Palmyra in 2015.^[2]

Amaq launched an official mobile app in 2015 and has warned against unofficial versions that reportedly have been used to spy on its users.^[6] It also uses a Telegram account.^[7] It had a WordPress-based blog, but it was removed without explanation in April 2016.^[6]

On May 31, 2017, a Facebook post announced Amaq's founder, Baraa Kadek AKA Rayan Meshaal, was killed with his daughter by an American airstrike on Mayadin. The post was reportedly made by his younger brother. Reuters could not immediately verify this account.^[8] On 27 July 2017, US confirmed his was killed by a coalition airstrike near Mayadin between 25 to 27 May 2017.^[9]

Mohammed G.

In June 2017, German police arrested a 23 year-old Syrian man identified only as Mohammed G., accusing him of being an ISIS member and of communicating with alleged perpetrators after attacks such as the 2016 Malmö Muslim community centre arson in order to report to Amaq.^[4][10]

References