Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad made a rare public appearance outside Damascus yesterday for morning prayers marking Eid al-Adha, state media reported.
Since the start of Syria’s devastating conflict in 2011, Assad has only left the capital on a few occasions.
This year, however, he has been able to venture further afield more frequently, including to the central province of Hama and to western Syria, as his forces and their allies have scored victories on the battlefield.
“President Assad prayed on Eid al-Adha...in the town of Qara” in western Qalamun, near Lebanon, the presidency tweeted, along with a picture of him kneeling in a mosque flanked by other officials.
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad attends prayers on the first day of Eid al-Adha, inside a mosque in the town of Qara, north of Damascus.
