Assad’s Instagram: Syrian president apparently joins the social media photo site
Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his wife, Asma, walk in Paris during an official visit to France in 2010. A member of the Syrian National Council has said al-Assad will be “killed like Gaddafi.”
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appears to have joined Instagram.
A new account on the photo-sharing site, going by the name of "Syrian Presidency," was launched last week and features photos of the leader and his wife meeting and greeting Syrians around the country. GlobalPost has not been able to verify that the account has official origins, though it was promoted on what's believed to be the presidency's Twitter feed — which has a shockingly low number of followers.
Photos in the new photo-sharing feed show Assad visiting people in the hospital and his wife, Asma, wiping away a child's tears.
Assad's apparent profile, here, was discovered by Time correspondent Patrick Witty.
The profile was set up after a number of government victories over Syrian rebels in Damascus and Homs.
The Syrian civil war has raged for three years with an estimated 100,000 people killed.
About 2.5 million Syrians have fled the country, causing a massive spillover effect in countries such as Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq.
More from GlobalPost: Operation Northern Storm: Syrian army plans assault on Aleppo
We want to hear your feedback so we can keep improving our website, theworld.org. Please fill out this quick survey and let us know your thoughts (your answers will be anonymous). Thanks for your time!