Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Voice of America footage still: SDF, YPG and YPJ flags, 2017 Syrian Democratic Forces photograph: In a street square lined

Voice of America footage still: SDF, YPG and YPJ flags displayed in the centre of Raqqa after its capture (Raqqa, 20 October 2017)

In a street square lined with shattered buildings, a large yellow banner with a white emblem covers the front of a building, and two tall flagpoles carry a yellow flag and a green flag with a red star; a military vehicle stands at the right. A "VOA" logo is in the lower right corner. The tell is flags and a building-sized banner raised in the ruined centre of the city, which claim the captured ground for the force that holds it.

Propaganda techniques used in this photograph

Transfer
Date
October 20, 2017
Period
Contemporary
Made by
Syrian Democratic Forces (flags displayed); still from Voice of America Kurdish footage

Full record

Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Theme, Event, Source, Rights
Region
Middle East and North Africa
Country
Syrian Democratic Forces
Medium
Photograph
Issuer type
Military
Regime
Syrian Democratic Forces
Leader
Mazloum Abdi
Audience
Mixed
Purpose
Persuade or win support
Theme
War and the military
Event
Syrian Civil War
Source
Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source
Wikimedia Commons, retrieved October 11, 2026
Rights
Public domain (US government work, Voice of America), via Commons
Voice of America, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Text on the object

Checked for printed text: none found

Checked for printed text

No printed or legible text on this object.

A "VOA" broadcaster logo at the lower right is not part of the object; the banner's own lettering is not legible.

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