Syrian leader appears in public after shootout reports

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa appeared in a video widely circulated on Monday 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 30 December at the palace, which overlooks the capital.

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

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

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 authorities told AFP on condition of anonymity that “a shooting took place at the presidential palace on the evening of December 30”.

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