Online rumors are spreading claiming Syria’s despotic ruler, Bashar al-Assad, was shot down or involved in a plane accident after his dictatorship was overthrown and he left the country.
With a jet transporting Assad departing the city on Sunday, Islamist rebels have now taken control of Damascus as part of their onslaught.
A Syria Air jet took off, did an abrupt U-turn, and then vanished from the map, according to a Reuters story that cites data from Flightradar.
According to two Syrian sources cited by the news agency, there is a “very high probability” that the politician was murdered if Assad was aboard the aircraft, which was allegedly registered under the flight number SYR9218.
“It vanished from the radar; perhaps the transponder was turned off, but I think the greater likelihood is that the aircraft was shot down,” one person said.
The violations of human rights by the Assad government Human rights organizations have denounced Assad’s dictatorship, which started in 2000 and includes Russia and Iran as allies, for a number of atrocities.
