Is it true that there are such posters with Putin in the Gaza Strip?

In October 2023, a photograph of posters allegedly taken in the Gaza Strip, depicting, among others, Russian President Vladimir Putin, circulated on the Internet. We have verified the authenticity of this photo.

The photo went viral amid the biggest escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict in decades. October 7 terrorist group Hamas applied attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip, militants attacked several military bases, entered Israeli settlements and took hostages. In response, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched an operation to protect the country and also began carrying out airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. At the time of writing this analysis known about at least 1,360 killed as a result of the fighting.

The photo shows a building decorated with four posters with inscriptions in Arabic. The posters depict Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the leader of the Lebanon-based Islamist movement Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah. Not less than 4000 Ukrainian- And Russian-speaking Facebook users shared this photo with the caption “Gaza Strip. Cityscape". There is a post on Telegram with a comment that “these are very popular posters in Gaza,” posted publicist Alexander Nevzorov (545,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), and the channel “City of Foolov"(113,000) accompanied with a photograph a repost of a text by political scientist Abbas Gallyamov about the situation in Israel. Some popularity of the photo acquired on VKontakte and social network X (formerly Twitter).

The earliest publications claiming that it is the Gaza Strip in the photo were found by Verified on social network X (October 8 at 07:21 Moscow time). A little later, similar posts appeared on Telegram (the earliest found was in the channel “Cleric" on the same day at 14:03). However, this photograph has nothing to do with the current conflict or Gaza in general. 

A reverse photo search using Google and Yandex tools allows you to find this photo in publications from 2017 at least in two from different angles.

Then LiveJournal users wrotewhat's in eastern Aleppo posters appeared with images of Putin, Assad, Nasrallah and Khamenei, and the posters themselves were described: “Under the images of Putin and Nasrallah there is a signature: “Thank you from the people of Aleppo.” Under Assad the signature: “May your victory and glory in Aleppo be eternal, O Leo.” Under Khamenei’s signature: “Thank you, Syed Imam Khamenei, from the people of Aleppo.” Despite the low quality of the photo, above the portraits of Putin and Nasrallah you can actually make out the inscription in Arabic: “Thank you from the people of Aleppo!”

Row sources, in particular the American edition The Hill, they report that similar posters were placed in Aleppo and in the center of Damascus. All publications were made in January 2017, shortly after Aleppo were knocked out rebel troops, and the city itself was occupied by the Syrian armed forces. At that time these the photos were shared by Arabic- and English-speaking Twitter users. In particular, on January 2, 2017, a photo of a building with posters published editor of the German newspaper Bild Julian Röpke, indicating that it was made in Aleppo.

Thus, this photo was taken back in 2017 in Syria, most likely in Aleppo. It has nothing to do with the Gaza Strip and the escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict in October 2023.

Cover photo: image analyzed in analysis

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Origins and History of the Question of Palestine (Study by the Division for Palestinian Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat)
2. A short course on the history of Hamas. Kommersant