According to the Kremlin, ousted Syrian ruler Bashar Assad is in Russia. But there are no current photos or videos to prove it. And that's fueling speculation on the subject.
When rebels took control of Syria last week, the whereabouts of ousted Syrian ruler Bashar Assad were unknown for days. There has been much speculation about where the dictator and his family may have fled. Deutsche Welle has taken a closer look at some of the claims about Assad's whereabouts.
Claim: Social media and some websites are spreading the news that the ousted Syrian ruler has died in a plane crash. A photo and video are being published. Do they actually testify to the crash of the plane carrying Bashar Assad?
DW check: False
According to publications with tens of thousands of views, Assad died in a plane crashPhoto: Screenshot/x.com
Neither the photo nor the video shows Assad's plane crash. A reverse image search shows that the photo of the crashed plane is old - it was taken years ago. We see exactly the same plane, for example, in the video titled HikerFindsAbandonedPlaneWreck|Ghostarchive on YouTube from 2020 - it shows the remains of a 1952 plane found by YouTuber Matt Berger in the "Death Valley" National Park in the USA. There are also online publications reporting on the find.
And the video of the burning plane at night is actually also old and shows something completely different: an Indian MiG-29 fighter jet that crashed in early September. This was determined using the reverse image search method.
Speculation about a plane crash has probably also been fueled by media reports that contact was lost with a Syrian Air Il-76T aircraft, operating flight number SYR9218, near the city of Homs.
However, this does not necessarily mean that the plane crashed, as it is possible that the transponder was simply turned off. According to a recent investigation by "Spiegel" The mysterious flight may actually have something to do with Assad's escape, but the plane's data does not prove that it crashed and Assad died.
No recent photos of Assad in Moscow
As for Assad's whereabouts, there has been speculation about his arrival in the Russian capital, Moscow. In line with this, social media users, as well as some media outlets, have shared various photos that allegedly show Syrian ruler Bashar Assad with his wife in Moscow.
Claim: "Bashar al-Assad and his wife Asma have appeared in Moscow", wrote one X user, posting a photo showing the Syrian ruler, his wife, and other men in a building. Some media outlets also published the photo, specifying that it showed Assad in Moscow.
DW fact check: False
The photo of Assad and his wife visiting earthquake victims in a hospital in Aleppo in 2023 was published as a current photo
A reverse image search shows that the photo is more than a year old. It was taken during Assad's visit to earthquake victims in a hospital in Aleppo on February 10, 2023, and is a screenshot of a video recording of the visit. Relevant photos from Assad's visit at that time can also be found in the agencies.
Another photo of Bashar Assad at an airport was also circulated by some X users as a recent photo from Moscow. Again, a reverse image search showed that the photos were from Assad's visit to Moscow in March 2023. According to official Russian sources, Assad arrived in Moscow on March 14, 2023 for talks with Vladimir Putin, which took place the next day - March 15, 2023. The published photo shows Assad being greeted with an honor guard upon his arrival at Vnukovo Airport.
Meanwhile, Russian news agencies, citing a Kremlin source, reported that Assad and his family are in Moscow and have been granted asylum in Russia for humanitarian reasons. Syrian embassy officials confirmed to TASS that the ousted Syrian ruler is currently in Moscow. However, there are no current photos or videos of Assad and his family in Moscow so far.