This Image Shows First Photo of Bashar Al-Assad & Wife After Fleeing Syria? No!

Neither is this image recent nor was it taken in Moscow, Russia.

Fact-Check | The image is old and is being falsely shared as a recent one.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

An image of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma, walking along with other people is being shared on the internet as recent visuals of the duo from Moscow, Russia.

What's the context?: The claim comes amidst the fall of Assad's government in Syria and the President fleeing from the country.

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

The above post had garnered over 74 thousand views on the platform. Archives of similar claims can be found here, here, and here.

Is this claim true?: No. This visual dates back to February 2023 and shows Assad and his wife visiting the Aleppo Medical Hospital to meet people, who were impacted by the earthquake.

How did we find that out?: We performed a keyword search in Arabic on YouTube using the words "زيارة الرئيس بشار الأسد وزوجته أسماء" (Translation: President Bashar al-Assad and wife Asma visit).

• This directed us to a video published on an unverified channel called 'Syrian Presidency'.

• It was posted on 11 February 2023 and was titled, "Video of President Bashar al-Assad and Mrs Asma al-Assad's visit to al-Ghazalat neighborhood in Jableh city."

• On going through the visuals, we noticed that the couple could be seen wearing the same attire as seen in the viral image.

Finding the original visual: Taking the details above as a hint, we conducted another keyword search in Arabic using the words "زيارة الرئيس بشار الأسد زلزال" (Translation: president Bashar al Assad earthquake visit).

• We came across the same visuals published on a YouTube channel named 'Syrianarabnewsagency'.

• It was uploaded on 10 February 2023 and its title when translated to English said, "President Bashar al-Assad and Mrs. Asma al-Assad inspect the conditions of earthquake victims in Aleppo."

The video was published on 10 February 2023.

(Source: YouTube/Screenshot)

Conclusion: It is clear that the image is old and does not show Assad and his wife in Moscow.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at [e-mail] and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)