Syrian state media “blurred” the German Foreign Minister and other women in the photo
Media under the control of the new Syrian government censored photos of women during the coverage of the visit of the foreign ministers of Germany and France to Damascus. About this informs Picture.
Annalena Berbock and Jean-Noël Barro visited Damascus, becoming the highest-ranking Western officials to visit Syria since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. During the meeting, the leader of the new Syrian administration, Ahmad al-Sharaa, shook hands with the foreign minister of France, but not Germany, because Burbock is a woman.
The photo from this meeting, distributed by the media close to the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, was altered: the faces of Annalena Burbok and two other women, presumably translators, were “obscured.” Also, Ahmad al-Sharaa’s refusal to shake Burbok’s hand could have been due to religious beliefs.
Moderate Muslims allow touching of exposed parts of the body, such as hands. Whereas the strict religious norms that govern HTS members forbid such contacts, considering them the first step to debauchery.
