Assad Makes Rare Public Appearance for Eid Prayers

Local Editor

Syrian President Bashar Assad attended holiday prayers at a Damascus mosque on Thursday, state media reported, in a rare public appearance.

"President Assad led Eid al-Adha prayers at the al-Adel mosque in Damascus, with senior officials from the [Baath] party, the state, and a number of Muslim religious leaders and civilians," Syria's official news agency SANA reported.

In a photograph published on his official Twitter account, al-Assad appears standing in prayer, flanked by Prime Minister Wael Halaqi and Grand Mufti Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun.

On Wednesday, al-Assad issued two decrees increasing monthly wages for public sector employees in Syria, in an apparent gesture on the eve of the Muslim holiday.

Since the eruption of the Syrian Crisis in March 2011, al-Assad's public appearances had been mostly limited to official prayers on feast days.

Damascus has been largely spared the devastation wrought on other Syrian cities by the conflict.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team