Syrian leader appears in public after reports of shootout at palace

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa appeared in a video using the country’s new currency. Photo / Getty Images

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa appeared in a video widely circulated today using the country’s new currency, after his Interior Ministry denied reports of a shooting incident at his palace.

For days, social media users have been circulating reports of gunfire on December 30 at the palace, which overlooks the capital.

Earlier today, Syrian authorities denied that Sharaa had been targeted in any security incident, while two sources told AFP a shooting took place in Damascus’ presidential palace last week.

In a video circulated online, Sharaa was shown buying items from a shop in Damascus using the new Syrian currency, which went into circulation on January 1.

Interior Ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba said: “reports claiming a security incident targeted” Sharaa or other senior figures were “totally baseless”.

“We categorically affirm that these claims are entirely false,” he said.

A diplomat from a country that supports Syria’s new Islamist authorities told AFP on condition of anonymity that “a shooting took place at the presidential palace on the evening of December 30”.

Separately, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, told AFP a shooting inside the palace that evening lasted “around 12 minutes” and left several wounded.

Abdel Rahman, whose Britain-based Observatory relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said the incident was caused by “an internal dispute” between individuals at the palace and did not target Sharaa.

The Syrian leader, who appears sporadically, had not been seen in public since he unveiled the country’s new currency last week.

-Agence France-Presse