Syrian President Bashar al Assad appeared on television for the first time in a fortnight yesterday as rebel soldiers fighting off an army offensive in Aleppo said they were running low on ammunition.
The footage showed Mr Assad meeting Saeed Jalili, the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, in Damascus.
Mr Assad's two-week silence had fuelled rumours about his health, including a hoax Twitter message on Monday that quoted Russia's ambassador to Damascus as saying Mr Assad might have been killed. Russian officials denied the report.
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