ALBAWABA - A strange conspiracy theory is going around on the internet that says Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani is really Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the former leader of ISIS.
The story, which has been getting a lot of attention on social media, uses pictures of the two men side by side and hints that intelligence agencies may have faked Baghdadi's death in 2019. The theory is interesting, but there is no solid evidence to back it up, and it goes against what is already known about both men.
Asaad al-Shaibani is a Syrian diplomat who was born in 1987. He worked his way up through the ranks of the opposition movement and was named Foreign Minister in December 2024 under Syria's transitional government. He went to Damascus University to learn English, then went to Turkey to study politics more, and then worked with the Syrian opposition on government structures.
He has been the official representative of Syria on trips to Russia and the United States in the past few months. He is the first Syrian foreign minister to visit Washington in 25 years. His career path is well-known and closely linked to the turmoil of the Syrian conflict.
On the other hand, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was born in 1971 and led ISIS until he was killed in a U.S. special forces raid in northwestern Syria in October 2019.
Washington confirmed the raid, which was widely reported by international news outlets. It ended with Baghdadi reportedly detonating an explosive vest, leaving no doubt in intelligence circles that he had died. His life story is very different from al-Shaibani's. He went from being a religious scholar in Iraq to one of the world's most feared jihadist leaders. Al-Shaibani, on the other hand, started out as a young Syrian activist and then became a diplomat.
There is no reason to believe that the two men are the same person other than the fact that they look alike in pictures and rumors about intelligence manipulation.
Even though it has gone viral, there is still no solid evidence, credible report, or intelligence leak to back up the claim that Asaad al-Shaibani is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The documented timelines, biographies, and public appearances of both men strongly suggest that they are not the same person. For now, the theory is still just an internet rumor, which shows once again how false information can spread faster than facts in a region that is already divided.
