Man in Viral Beheading Photo Misidentified as Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa

The photos show two different people — Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and killed ISIS militant Mohammed Elomar.

A set of photos has gone viral on social media, one of which shows a man holding severed heads, who has been misidentified as Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

A set of photos, showing Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and a man holding two severed heads, are being shared together shortly after the conclusion of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on 29 September.

The claim: Those sharing this set of photos have claimed that both photos show Al-Sharaa, who purportedly used to a head a delisted terrorist organisation in the past, now participating at the UNGA.

• "Yesterday's terrorist is tomorrow's leader of UN," one user wrote, insinuating that Al-Sharaa was able to participate at the UNGA due to "US backing."

An archived version of this post can be seen here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

(Archives of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here and here.)

Is it true?: No, the claim is false.

• While the first photo shows Al-Sharaa, the second one shows Mohamed Elomar, an Australian man who was a part of the terrorist organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

How do we know?: A reverse image search on the first photo led us to Al-Sharaa's photo on the official Instagram account of the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, where it was shared on 23 September.

• This confirms that the photo is authentic and unaltered.

What about the other one?: A reverse image search on the second photo in the claim led us to credible news reports dating back to 2014.

• These reports, such as this one by Cable News Network (CNN), carried the same censored version of the image, identifying the man as one Mohammed Elomar, a suspected Australian militant who was linked to ISIS.

The report was published in August 2014.

(Source: CNN/Screenshot)

Another report by The Guardian, too, identified the person in this photograph as Mohammed Elomar.

Several credible reports identify the man as one Mohammed Elomar.

(Source: The Guardian/Screenshot)

A 2015 report by the BBC noted that Elomar had been killed in a targeted drone strike.

Conclusion: The man holding two severed heads does not show Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, but shows Mohammed Elomar, a terrorist who was killed in 2015.

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