\n<\/p>\n
“PLANE CRASH OF <\/span>#Bashar_al_Assad NEAR <\/span>#Homs ! IT DEPARTED <\/span>#DAMASCUS AIRPORT, TOOK A TURN AND REACHED AN ALTITUDE OF 500 METERS! THEN CRASHED! <\/span>#Syrie #Syrian,” says a December 7, 2024 post<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n Screenshot from X taken December 9, 2024<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Similar posts and some online articles<\/a> shared the same seven-second clip<\/a> of a fiery jet. It also spread in\u00a0Polish<\/a>.<\/p>\n The video came as crowds in the streets of Damascus cheered<\/a> the dramatic end<\/a> to more than five decades<\/a> of Assad family rule in Syria. The government fell December 8, days after the rebels launched a surprise offensive — the latest in a drawn-out civil war<\/a> that killed 500,000 people after Assad cracked down on anti-government protests more than 13 years ago.<\/p>\n Russian news agencies said<\/a> December 8 that Assad and his family were in Moscow, although the Kremlin a day later refused to confirm<\/a> the ousted Syrian leader was in the country. The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights<\/span>, a war monitor, told AFP Assad left Syria via Damascus International Airport.<\/p>\n The lack of official confirmation from the Syrian presidency has fueled speculation online about Assad’s whereabouts, with some flight watchers<\/a> sharing data from\u00a0Flightradar24<\/a> that showed one plane from Damascus making a U-turn before losing signal (archived here<\/a> and here<\/a>). The flight <\/span>tracking service said on X that the aircraft “was old with an older transponder generation, so some data might be bad.”<\/p>\n Regardless of Assad’s whereabouts, <\/span>the video of a downed plane on fire does not show his aircraft — the clip is more than three months old and shows a crash in India.<\/p>\n Reverse image searches<\/a> revealed the footage dates to September 2, when media organizations<\/a> such as India Today<\/a> and the Indian Express<\/a> published it <\/span>(archived\u00a0here<\/a>, here<\/a> and here<\/a>). The clip also appears on the online video licensing website Newsflare<\/a> (archived here<\/a>).<\/p>\n According to the reports, the aircraft was an Indian Air Force fighter jet that crashed in the city of Barmer while on a training mission. The pilot safely ejected from the plane after a technical issue.<\/p>\n “During a routine night training mission in Barmer sector, an IAF MiG-29 encountered a critical technical snag, forcing the pilot to eject,” the Indian Air Force posted on X<\/a> at the time (archived here<\/a>). “The pilot is safe and no loss of life or property was reported. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered.”<\/span><\/p>\n Other footage<\/a> shows the crashed plane<\/a> from additional angles (archived\u00a0here<\/a> and here<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n AFP has debunked other misinformation about Syria here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n