Indian Air Force jet crash video shared as ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s plane crash

The video shows an Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-29 fighter jet crash that occurred on 2 September, 2024 in Rajasthan

A video is going viral on social media with a claim that it shows the plane carrying Bashar al-Assad, the ousted president of Syria, crashing near Homs City after departing Damascus. The caption states, “PLANE CRASH OF #Bashar_al_Assad NEAR #Homs! IT DEPARTED #DAMASCUS AIRPORT, TOOK A TURN AND REACHED AN ALTITUDE OF 500 METERS! THEN CRASHED”.

But Fact Crescendo found that the viral claim is false. Let’s check the truth.

Archive link

Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by running a reverse image search on Google, and whose results led us to a report by the Indian Express published on 3 September 2024 with a caption, “IAF’s Mig-29 crashes in Barmer during night sortie, Pilot safe”. The report details that a MiG-29 crashed at around 9:50 p.m. on September 2 in a village near the Uttarlai Air Force Station, approximately 10-15 kilometers from Barmer. It added that no civilian casualties or property damage occurred. 

Archive link

The video was also uploaded on the Indian Express’ YouTube channel with a caption “Fighter Plane Crashes Near Barmer Airport, IAF Pilot Safely Ejects During MiG-29 Training Mission.”

We also found the same video on NDTV  channel. 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.

We also found a post from the Indian Air Force posted on Twitter at the time stating that, “During a routine night training mission in Barmer sector, an IAF MiG-29 encountered a critical technical snag, forcing the pilot to eject,” “The pilot is safe and no loss of life or property was reported. A Court of Inquiry has been ordered.”

Russian news agencies quoting Kremlin sources stated that Bashar al-Assad and his family have arrived in Moscow and been granted asylum “out of humanitarian considerations.” And a day later Kremlin refused to confirm the ousted Syrian leader was in the country.

There is no official confirmation available about Bashar al-Assad’s whereabouts by the time of writing this article. 

Based on all these evidences, we can say that an old video from September 2024 was shared as a plane carrying Bashar al-Assad, the ousted president of Syria, crashing near Homs after departing Damascus. 

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the viral claim made along with the video to be False. The viral video shows an Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-29 fighter jet crash that occurred on 2 September, 2024 in Rajasthan