FACT CHECK: Did Bashar Al-Assad Resign As President Of Syria?

A viral video shared on X claims Bashar al-Assad purportedly announced he was resigning as Syrian President.

بدون تعليق …. pic.twitter.com/zTLJFybRHQ

— Naguib Sawiris (@NaguibSawiris) December 8, 2024

Verdict: False

The claim is false. A content detection scan using the website, “TrueMedia.org” indicates the audio has been generated with artificial intelligence (AI). In addition, a media forensics and AI expert told Check Your Fact via email it is easy to create an audio track using AI.

Fact Check:

Russian official Sergei Ryabkov confirmed al-Assad is in Russia, according to NBC News. al-Assad stepped down as leader of Syria and left the country after the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and “allied rebel factions” captured Aleppo before heading to Damascus, BBC News reported.

The video, which has amassed over one million views as of writing, claims al-Assad purportedly announced his resignation as Syrian President. “No comment….,” the video’s caption reads.

The claim is false. A content detection scan using the website, “TrueMedia.org” indicates the video shows “substantial evidence of manipulation,” as its audio has been generated with AI.

Likewise, Check Your Fact found no credible news reports to support the claim. Actually, the opposite is true. On Dec. 12, Misbar debunked the claim, also reporting the video had been manipulated using AI. The outlet traced the original video to YouTube, where it was uploaded in September 2023.

An English translation of the video’s caption states it was created with AI for entertainment purposes. “#Urgent What if he came back apologizing #Syria #Bashar_al-Assad This talk is not true and is for entertainment purposes only. It was created via artificial intelligence,” the caption reads.

Additionally, Misbar referenced a Dec. 5 Al Jazeera article stating that the Syrian Ministry of Information was aware of the fabricated video’s existence and that it had been generated with AI. (RELATED: No, Image Doesn’t Show Assad In Moscow)

Furthermore, Dr. Walter Scheirer, a media forensics and AI expert at the University of Notre Dame, told Check Your Fact via email it is easy to create an audio track using AI.

“No such resignation has been reported on by any major news outlet, and the ability to create an audio track of this nature is easy to do using a generative AI algorithm,” Scheirer said.