Amid the ongoing Syria Crisis, Syria’s army command on Sunday, 08 December 2024 notified officers that President Bashar al-Assad’s rule has ended. Notably, this comes after Bashar al-Assad faced a rapid rebel offensive that took Syria, and the world by surprise. Syrian rebels said that Damascus was “now free of Assad”.
Amid this, On social media, news of Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad has gone viral. While sharing the news users wrote “Bashar-al-Assad dead”.
Moreover, several users shared this video and made similar claims. The link can be seen here and here
Fact Check
During the investigation, DFRAC found the claim to be false. We found multiple media reports regarding the news. According to the ‘Reuters’ report “Syria’s former President Bashar al-Assad is in Moscow with his family after Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds, a Kremlin source told Russian news agencies on Sunday, and a deal has been done to ensure the safety of Russian military bases. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said earlier that Assad had left Syria and given orders for a peaceful transfer of power, after rebel fighters raced into Damascus unopposed on Sunday, ending nearly six decades of his family’s iron-fisted rule.”
Furthermore, we also found a report from ‘BBC’ stated “Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow and been granted asylum “out of humanitarian considerations”, Russian news agencies are quoting a Kremlin source as saying. Russian state TV also reported the news, which put an end to speculation about the whereabouts of Syria’s former president after rebel forces seized control of Damascus.
Conclusion
It is evident from the DFRAC’s fact check that the news of Bashar al-Assad dead is false. Therefore the claim of social media users is fake.
