Cockburn was criticized for an apparent claim made in his 2015 book '' The Rise of Islamic State '' about the Adra massacre of Alawites and Christians during the Syrian Civil War . Idrees Ahmad pointed out that in the book Cockburn was apparently claiming to be a witness and noted that this claim disagrees with Cockburn 's reportage at the time , in which he stated he learned of the killings via " a Syrian Assad regime soldier who gave his name as Abu Ali " . Ahmad also questioned whether the massacre had taken place . Cockburn said that he had made no such claim ; rather , he charged , an " obvious error " had been , at best , misconstrued by Ahmad . Cockburn confirmed that it was his contemporary report that was correct , that he did not witness the massacre and admonished Ahmad for doubting the fact of the massacre , mentioning " reports from the AP and Reuters news agencies " describing the massacre by Islamic militants and quoting local witnesses . Cockburn 's publisher explained the error arose from the publisher summarizing but misunderstanding writings by Cockburn , that Cockburn had never claimed to be a witness and that the error would be corrected in subsequent printings of the book . The publisher criticized Ahmad for using a " minor " mistake " made evident by text that surrounds and contradicts it " to " impugn the integrity " of Cockburn
Adra massacre
Adra massacre
Patrick Cockburn