The Syrian Ministry of Information’s website has stopped from providing any of its services after it has falsely announced news, via its Facebook page, claiming that the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad was poisoned and has suffered from a dangerous contagious disease.
The ministry said that the news piece about Assad’s alleged assassination was completely false and was published after its website was hacked, adding that Syria’s official news agency SANA has not received any information about this matter.
“There was an attempt to poison his Excellency Bashar Assad. He was infected by a contagious, dangerous disease and is in grave condition”, the ministry’s fake Facebook post which was apparently posted by hackers said.
“Doctors are at the president’s side and are trying to save his life”, the fake news piece added.
News of Assad’s health problems has spread shortly after the posting, causing confusion among the government, military and social media sphere.
The Jerusalem Post noted that as of Monday the message announcing Assad’s poisoning had yet to be removed from the Syrian ministry’s website. It was not clear whether this was due to technical reasons or an attempt by authorities to locate the parties responsible.
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