Anonymous leaks emails from Syrian President's office

Jacob Aron, technology reporter

(Image: News Pictures/Rex Features)

Hacktivist group Anonymous has leaked hundreds of emails from the Syrian Ministry of Presidential Affairs, as the Syrian government enters a fifth day of bombardment in city of Homs.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz has published a number of the leaked emails, including a discussion on how President Bashar al-Assad should handle an interview with US journalist Barbara Walters which took place last year. The email, sent from Syrian press attach? Sheherazad Jaafari to Luna Chebel, a former Al Jazeera journalist and current Assad aide, offers advice on how to handle the US media:

They think that bloodshed is done by the government to attack the "innocent civilians" and "peaceful demonstrators". Mentioning "armed groups" in the interview is extremely important and we can use "American and British articles" to prove that there are "armed gangs".

Continuing, Jaafari draws comparisons between Syrian dissenters and the Occupy Wall Street movement:

It is hugely important and worth mentioning that "mistakes" have been done in the beginning of the crises because we did not have a well-organized "police force". American Psyche can be easily manipulated when they hear that there are "mistakes" done and now we are "fixing it". Its worth mentioning also what is happening now in Wall Street and the way the demonstrations are been suppressed by police men, police dogs and beatings.

Jaafari also advises highlighting the fact that social media channels remain open in Syria:

This is very important to the American mindset. The fact that Facebook and youtube are open now-especially during the crises- is important.

"We don't kill our people... no government in the world kills its people, unless it's led by a crazy person," Assad told Walters during the interview last year.

Alongside the leaked emails, Anonymous also exposed the login details for 78 accounts on the Ministry's servers, many of which used the simple password "12345".

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/1c7f805e/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Conepercent0C20A120C0A20Canonymous0Eleaks0Eemails0Efrom0Esy0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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