However, an investigation by CNN Arabic revealed that the photo is fabricated using artificial intelligence techniques, and that there is no documented public appearance of Assad in Moscow since his “flight there after the opposition factions took control of Damascus on December 8, 2024.”
Careful analysis revealed flaws in the image, such as distortions in the dimensions of the buildings in the background and problems in Assad’s features, especially in the appearance of his hand intertwined with the hand of the girl appearing with him. The “Mind Video AI” mark was also found in the corner of the image, which is one of the AI image generation tools.
Specialized technical examination tools, including Hive Moderation, confirmed the same result, confirming that the image is fake.
Since Assad arrived in Russia, he has not appeared in any public place, except for a statement published through the Syrian presidency accounts that are still under the management of his former team. In this statement, al-Assad denied “having left Syria at dawn on Sunday, December 8, the day Damascus fell,” considering that the country had fallen “into the hands of armed groups,” while stressing that he was “the owner of a national project,” as he put it.
