VIDEO 3: SUAD ADEEB ABU AMMAR TELLS STILLBIRTH STORY

• Source: Islamic State via Sweida Hostages Page (Activist page) (Confirmed)
• Location: Unknown location near Safa. (Corroborated)
• Date: August 12 (Checking)
• Archived here.

A third video emerged on local Facebook pages on August 12. The video (archived here) shows two women, Suad Adeeb Abu Ammar, who appeared in Video 1, above, and Abeer Shilgeen, a   woman Suad Adeeb Abu Ammar says had a stillbirth pregnancy while being held captive.

“I am Suad Adeeb Abu Ammar and this is our sister Abeer Shilgeen,” she says. “She was pregnant and gave birth prematurely due to the bad situation. The fetus was born dead. We still live in this bad situation […] We appeal to the brothers in charge to get us out of this situation as soon as possible.” She gives the date as August 12.

The names, Abeer Shilgeen and Suad Adeeb Abu Ammar, appeared on a list of IS captives posted by a local Facebook page (archived here).

Previous reports (archived here) had said that Shilgeen was 33 years old and six months pregnant.

All of the versions of the video were watermarked with the name of a Facebook page.

Using that name in Arabic (صفحة مختطفات السويداء)  and we found the page on Facebook (archived here).

The first post on the page appeared on July 27, which indicated the page was only created after the abductions. It is described as a community page and the page shared multiple photos, videos and updates about the captives.

The page shared screenshots of a conversation with Najeeb Abu Fakher, who again acted as a source. He sent them the video directly via WhatsApp (archived here).  

Location:

This video had very limited geographic information. The footage appeared to have been shot in a tent and is similar to the previous video.

One of the two women seen in the video appeared in a previous video, indicating that the women were being held together and came from Sweida.

Local sources from Sweida (archived here) reported on August 12 that the hostages were being held in the volcanic hills of Safa, between Damascus and Sweida provinces. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that IS transferred the hostages from Sweida province to east Damascus province after the Syrian government advances in the area.

Hostage Releases

On October 20, Abeer Shilgeen and her two children, along with another mother and her two children, were released as part of exchange deal with the Syrian government, Sweida 24 (archived here) reported.

IS released the hostages in exchange for 17 women, the wives of IS fighters, and nine children, who were detained in a Syrian government prison, the report said.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (archived here) reported this was the first stage of a comprehensive deal between the Syrian government and IS in which more hostages would be released.

Local Facebook pages gave the names (archived here) of the newly released hostages.

Using specific terms and keywords, as well as the names of the released hostages, Storyful sourced video of the hostages.

• تحرير المختطفات السويداء : Liberating Sweida hostages
• إطلاق سراح مختطفين السويداء : Release Sweida hostages
• تحرير السويداء داعش Liberating Sweida ISIS
• عبير شلغين Abeer Shilgeen
• غيداء الجباعي Ghaidaa al-Jibaai
• يعرب الجباعي Yarub al-Jibaai

The earliest video showed one of the newly released hostages, Ghaidaa al-Jibaai.

That video was shared by a pro-government journalist, Jomana Hamdan. She describes herself on Facebook as from Sweida, and posted several videos and photos from the release, including a live video. The live video was consistent with the other videos and photos, which indicated they were all original. Hamdan shared many photos (archived here) showing her with members of Abeer Shilgeen’s family after Shilgeen’s release.

One of Hamdan’s videos (archived here) shows Abeer Shilgeen with four children after Shilgeen’s release.

A second video (archived here) shows a daughter of Shilgeen, who was taken with her mother. The girl gives her name as Ghaidaa al-Jibaai.

This information was used to verify the identity of al-Jibaai, Shilgeen and Abu Ammar, and by extension the other hostages.