Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was shown on national television. The country is being attacked by a US-backed program of regime-change., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Assad Shown in Rare Public Appearance as Violence Rages
By Donna Abu-Nasr and Zahra Hankir on August 19, 2012
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad was shown on state television praying in a Damascus mosque to mark the start of an Islamic holiday, a rare public appearance as soldiers battle rebels in several cities.
State-run Syrian Television broadcast footage of Assad praying at the Hamad mosque at end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem and other top officials were shown accompanying him.
Assad, who used to be seen with his wife at restaurants and in public before the uprising, has limited his appearances since the fighting started. Rebels are pushing forward with attacks and control large swaths of the country.
Assad spent 11 minutes at the mosque and didn’t linger to talk to the worshippers as was his earlier practice, Al Arabiya television reported. It said increased security measures were taken at the mosque and in its vicinity starting yesterday. Trash cans were removed, bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in and elite Republican Guard forces as well as snipers were deployed before dawn.
Protests in several cities and towns across Syria erupted after morning prayers were held on the first day of Eid al-Fitr, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on its Facebook page. It reported clashes in Hama, Daraa and Idlib and other provinces. Syrian government forces killed 172 people yesterday including 70 in Damascus and its suburbs, the opposition Local Coordination Committees said in an e-mailed statement.
Bomb Attack
Vice President Faruq al-Shara wasn’t among the officials shown on television today with Assad. State television reported yesterday that al-Shara’s office denied reports that he had left the country and defected. Dubai-based Al Arabiya television earlier reported that Shara had left to neighboring Jordan.
Last month, a bomb attack in Damascus killed key members of the military establishment including Assad’s brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, Defense Minister Dawoud Rajhah and the vice president’s military adviser, Hasan Turkmani.
The increasing violence led the United Nations mission in Syria to suspend its activities in June. The mission’s mandate ends today after the UN failed to extend it. The head of the mission, Lieutenant General Babacar Gaye, yesterday called on all parties involved in the Syrian conflict to “stop this violence that is causing such suffering to the innocent people of Syria,” according to an e-mailed transcript sent by his office.
To contact the reporters on this story: Donna Abu-Nasr in Beirut at dabunasr@bloomberg.net Zahra Hankir in Dubai at zhankir@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Claudia Maedler at cmaedler@bloomberg.net; Louis Meixler at lmeixler@bloomberg.net
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