Fact check: Photos falsely claim to show al-Assad and wife in Moscow

A photo circulating widely on social media claiming to show the ousted Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his wife in Moscow was in fact taken in February 2023 in Aleppo, according to Euroverify’s analysis.

Russian news agency TASS first reported that al-Assad and his family had arrived in the Russian capital after fleeing Syria on Sunday, citing a Kremlin source. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has since suggested President Putin personally granted al-Assad’s asylum.

But a reverse-image search shows that photos claiming to verify that claim are in fact screenshots of footage from al-Assad’s visit to an Aleppo hospital in February 2023 following the earthquake on the Turkey-Syria border.

Euronews’ fact-checking team detected the misleading claim on X, TikTok and Facebook.

As of yet, no images have emerged to corroborate Russia’s claim that al-Assad has reached Moscow.

Reuters, citing two senior army officials, said earlier on Sunday that al-Assad had boarded a plane to an unknown destination.

Unconfirmed reports have suggested he left on a military plane known as Ilyushin Il-76, operated by Syrian Air, which took off from Damascus in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Data provided by air traffic tracker Flightradar24 suggests the plane descended to an altitude of 1,070 metres over the rebel-held city of Homs before the aircraft’s tracking systems were disconnected.

No reliable source has yet been able to independently verify who was on board, where it was heading, or what its manoeuvres were after it was lost on the radar.

The reports sparked a raft of unfounded claims, including that al-Assad’s plane had crashed in the Syrian mountains as he escaped the capital northwards, or that the ousted president had fled to the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi.

The dramatic events that unfolded during rebels’ advance through Syrian cities over ten days have provided fertile ground for the viral spread of misinformation. Bashar al-Assad’s whereabouts has particularly been targeted by a wave of misleading claims.

Russia’s confirmation that the ousted president has sought asylum in Moscow have put most of the conflicting theories to rest. The New York Times has also cited two Iranian officials confirming that he is in the Russian capital.