Assad appears on TV as Aleppo rebels pounded

Wednesday 8 August 2012

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.

BATTLE HARDENED: A Free Syrian Army fighter takes cover during clashes with the Syrian army in the Salaheddine district of Aleppo.

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Hadeel Al Shalchi ALEPPO

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.

The President's reappearance came as his forces encircled the rebels' stronghold at the southern entrance of Aleppo.Mr Assad, who was dealt another political blow on Monday when his prime minister defected, has reinforced his troops in preparation for an assault to recapture rebel-held districts in Syria's largest city, after repelling fighters from most of Damascus."The Syrian army is trying to encircle us from two sides of Salaheddine," said Sheikh Tawfiq, one of the rebel commanders, referring to the south-western neighbourhood which has seen heavy fighting over the past week.Mortar fire and tank shells exploded across the district early yesterday, forcing rebels to take cover in crumbling buildings and rubble-strewn alleyways.Tanks have entered parts of Salaheddine, and army snipers, deployed on rooftops under cover of the heavy bombardment, are hindering rebel movements.Another rebel commander, Abu Ali, said snipers at the main Salaheddine roundabout were preventing the rebels from bringing in reinforcements and supplies. He said five of his fighters were killed on Monday and 20 wounded.But rebels said they were still holding the main streets of Salaheddine.A fighter jet pounded targets in the eastern districts of Aleppo and artillery shelling was heard yesterday morning."Two families, about 14 people in total, were believed killed when a shell hit their home and it collapsed this morning," a rebel activist said. As Mr Assad's forces battle for Aleppo, the President has suffered a series of setbacks, including on Monday when Prime Minister Riyad Hijab fled the country and denounced the Damascus government as a terrorist regime.The defection of Mr Hijab, who like most of the opposition is from the Sunni Muslim majority, was a further sign of the isolation facing the inner core of Mr Assad's government, which is made up of powerful members of his minority Alawite sect."Defections are occurring in all components of the regime save its hard inner core, which for now has given no signs of fracturing," said Peter Harling at the International Crisis Group think-tank."The regime as we knew it is certainly much weakened, but the question remains of how to deal with what it has become."A spokesman for US President Barack Obama hailed Mr Hijab's defection as a sign that the 40-year rule of Mr Assad's family was "crumbling from within" and said he should step down.

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Assad appears on TV as Aleppo rebels pounded

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