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YOU MAY HAVE thought it was just a cartoon, but conspiracy theorists reckon an old episode of the The Simpsons conceals a deep dark secret.

Egyptian TV network Al-Tahrir has claimed that a 2001 episode of the long-running cartoon hints at a global conspiracy to “destabilise the Arab world”.

They say that evidence in the episode suggests the US may have been behind the Arab Spring in 2011, in which several Arab governments were overthrown.

In the 2001 episode “New Kids On The Blecch”, Bart and pals form a boy band whose first single (“Drop Da Bomb”) turns out to be a subliminal recruitment campaign for the US Navy.

In the song’s music video, the boys parachute into an unnamed Arab nation from war planes – and if you look closely, a jeep displays the flag now used by the Syrian opposition.

R: The Simpsons' flag. L: A demonstrator waves the flag of the Syrian rebels. Press Association Press Association

The news anchor says:

[The video] suggests that what is happening in Syria today was premeditated. This is from 2001 – before there was such a thing called the “Syrian opposition”. That’s why people are saying on Facebook that this is a conspiracy.

This raises many question marks about what happened in the Arab Spring revolutions and about when this global conspiracy began.

However, though the flag does resemble that of the Syrian rebel groups, The Times of Israel have pointed out that the same flag was used prior to 1963 when the Ba’ath party took over the country.

Well we don’t know what to think. Where’s Jim Corr when you need him, eh?

- Aaron Gell/Valerie Loftus

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