A mother holds a piece of gauze to the face of her injured daughter at a field hospital after what activists said were air strikes by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the Duma neighborhood of Damascus November 11, 2014.
A mother holds a piece of gauze to the face of her injured daughter at a field hospital after what activists said were air strikes by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the Duma neighborhood of Damascus November 11, 2014. REUTERS/Badra Mamet (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT)
A mother holds a piece of gauze to the face of her injured daughter at a field hospital after what activists said were air strikes by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the Duma neighborhood of Damascus November 11, 2014. REUTERS/Badra Mamet (SYRIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT)

Was it a daring rescue by a brave boy or an Internet hoax perpetuated to gain global sympathy for the Islamic State extremists?

YouTube/ShaamNetwork S.N.N

The Australian questioned on Wednesday the authenticity of that 1-minute, 6-second video which had became viral with more than 500,000 hits in one day. The doubt was because the uploader of the clip which showed "an extraordinary moment of bravery" is the Shaam News Network.

To rescue a young girl, the boy-hero in the clip pretended to have been hit by the gunfire, but in a matter of seconds stands up and pulls the girl who is crouched behind a vehicle to safety. Like in action movies, the young pair manages to dodge the bullets away from the gunman's view.

The Australian, citing Syrian activists, reports that the video was apparently shot in Aleppo based on the accents on the audio bed. However, the spokesman of than Islam Army rebel group in the city, Abdurrahman Saleh, who said he is aware of "almost all" that is happening among activists in the area, said he is unaware of such an incident, hinting it could have been staged, possible as part of extremists' propaganda material.

The daily pointed out, "Footage faked to discredit opponents or to misrepresent events is not unheard of in Syria." It cited past incidents when videos of previous battles were posted in social media sites to show reported atrocities in the Syrian war or on purpose made fake footage such as when members of a supposed Free Syrian Army special troops were lugging toy guns, not real weapons.

Another instance was a video posted on Wednesday of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the IS leader, wounded, following media reports that he was injured by air strikes by the US-led coalition. But the video was posted in September.

The British daily, The Independent, likewise noted that the video's authenticity has not been verified and noted ongoing discussions in social media that questions its legitimacy.