The official Instagram feed for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was recently discovered by Time Magazine's Patrick Witty. The Presidency for the Syrian Arab Republic already had a Twitter account, which linked back to the social media app.
Al-Assad's social media strategy features 66 posts of the Syrian president and his wife, Asma al-Assad. According to the United States government, the dictator has used sarin gas against his opposition. Meanwhile Human Rights Watch claims 4,000 Syrian civilians have died in air strikes alone. Accused of genocide, this political public relations move depicts the al-Assads with the wounded, wiping away tears and being loved by the populace.
Even though the Instagram pictures are propaganda, they do allow a more heavily filtered view of the Syrian war, which has largely banned journalists. The Syrian dictator's account was created the day before the UN Secretary General announced 100,000 Syrians have died so far in the two year civil conflict.
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