The Arabic hashtag “Bashar al-Assad suffers a stroke” has flooded Twitter as rumors fly over the health of the embattled Syrian president.
Media outlets from across the Arab world have been speculating since Friday about the medical condition of the authoritarian leader whose troops have been fighting rebel forces since 2011.
According to a report in Saudi-owned paper al Arabiya, several international news outlets have published the story.
Al Arabiya claimed on Friday that the Lebanese newspapers al-Mustaqbal and al-Diyar had reported that Assad was being treated for a stroke in Damascus Hospital. It also cited the Saudi Okaz newspaper as saying that Assad is in fact suffering from a brain tumor, for which he has been receiving medical treatment from a Syrian-Russian team.
In the more extreme of the head injuries attributed to Assad, al Arabiya also reported that a French newspaper, Le Point, had speculated that he had been shot in the head by his own Iranian bodyguard.
However, the official Facebook page for the Syrian presidency posted the following denial of the suggestions on Friday:
Acknowledging the speculation around Assad’s wellbeing, the statement “denies these news stories completely and totally” and “emphasizes that Assad is in perfect health and is carrying out his job in an entirely normal manner.”
The post also suggests that the “Syrian people have become immune to such lies, and even greater ones, since the beginning of the war,” arguing that such attempts to spread false news will “only draw derision.”
Russian blogger Navsteva alleged that this is a case of 'Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya spreading rumours”, according to the Daily Mail. Saudi Arabia, embroiled in ongoing hostilities with Iran, has backed the rebels against Assad, who has Iranian support.
These denials have not stopped Twitter users enthusiastically sharing the story, many of them delighted at the thought that Assad - who has been accused by opposition and human rights groups of deliberately targeting civilians - might be close to death.
More than 20,000 people have tweeted about the topic, particularly in the Gulf, where support for the Syrian opposition is strong.
#بشار_الاسد_يتعرض_لجلطه_دماغيه
مهما بلغت قوتك وطغيانك ذات يوم ستهلك وستندم على كل فعله فعلتها بأبناء شعبك ايه الكلب pic.twitter.com/1e13bRE1WB— تركي بن مشعل . (@Ro_hh11) January 31, 2017
While your strength and tyranny may have been exaggerated, one of these days you will be annihilated and you will regret every action you have committed against your people, you dog.
اللهم اجعله يتمنى الموت ولا يجده
— نايف الصحفي (@alsahfe2) January 31, 2017
#بشار_الاسد_يتعرض_لجلطه_دماغيه
May God make him [suffer so that] he wishes he was dead.
#بشار_الاسد_يتعرض_لجلطه_دماغيه
— فَ* (@r_h1419) January 31, 2017
اللهمّ لاتمته حتى تريه عقوبة كل دم سفكه ،اللهم أذق قلبه حسرة واجعله في خوف وذرع لاتسكن ،اللهم ضاعف عذابه
Oh God don't let him die until he sees punishment for all of the blood he has shed, may God make him feel regret in his heart and make him feel unending fear and duplicate his suffering.
#بشار_الاسد_يتعرض_لجلطة_دماغية
— جزاء (@jzqhh_) January 30, 2017
احلى خبر pic.twitter.com/CO71b3VVoe
The best news (photo reads: I am going to fall down from happiness and injure my head and my eye.)
ان كان الخبر صحيح فلكل شخص يعمل رتويت مني ايفون٧ و الله شهيد على مااقول #بشار_الاسد_يتعرض_لجلطه_دماغيه
— عمار. (@bxlei) January 31, 2017
If this turns out to be true I will buy an Iphone for everyone who retweets this, and God is my witness.
According to local Syrian groups, 100,000 civilians had died in the conflict as of October 2015, while nearly 12 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes. Human Rights Watch has criticized Assad for his alleged use of chemical weapons and cluster munitions, as well as indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas. Opposition groups have also been accused of targeting civilians during the five-year civil war.
RA
