Syrian Embassy in Moscow Dismisses Rumors about President Assad’s Death

The Syrian Embassy in Moscow on Monday dismissed rumors about the death of Syrian President Bashar Assad, something that is currently being discussed by bloggers on social networking sites.

“The information is wrong,” an embassy spokesperson said, referring to allegations about Assad’s death tweeted by an unidentified Russian media outlet, Voice of Russia reported.

The Syrian President was rumored to have been shot Saturday, according to Arab and Israeli media reports. The rumor spread like wildfire on social media websites, Facebook and Twitter.

Later the online news updates said the Syrian leader’s shooting was false and that Assad was alive and in high spirits.

The opposition’s Free Syrian Army also denied the rumors.

“It’s not true. Definitely it’s not. The first one to bring this news was an Israeli (website) so it’s a shame to all the news channels, newspapers and websites copying this thing without any source. Just the Israeli website brought this news and all the channels (used). So it’s ridiculous,” a source close to the Syrian government said.

Social media websites like Facebook and Twitter have widely been blamed for the rumor spreading so quickly.