Mr Assad was not shown arriving at or leaving the mosque
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has made his first appearance in public since a bomb attack in Damascus last month killed several senior officials.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in rare mosque visit
State TV showed Mr Assad performing prayers in the capital's al-Hamad mosque at the start of the Eid al-Fitr festival marking the end of Ramadan.
Across the country, many people marked the holiday with prayers and anti-government demonstrations.
But opposition groups reported fierce bombardments of rebel-held areas.
Parts of Aleppo and Rastan have been shelled, and clashes reported in Herak, Deraa province, the pro-rebel Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Defection rumours
Mr Assad was shown seated on the mosque floor and standing to shake hands with clerics.
Correspondents say that in previous years he was generally filmed arriving or leaving in his convoy, but this did not happen this time.
The Syrian president has not been seen in public since giving a speech in parliament on 4 July.
Two weeks later, a bombing in the state security headquarters killed four senior officials including Mr Assad's brother in law, Deputy Defence Minister Assef Shawkat.
There have also been several defections in recent weeks by senior officials, notably Prime Minister Riad Hijab.
However, on Saturday officials denied rumours that Vice-President Farouq al-Shara, the most senior Sunni Muslim in the Damascus regime, had gone over to the opposition.
Support for new envoy
The international community has welcomed the appointment of the veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi as the new UN-Arab League envoy for Syria.
The 78-year-old succeeds Kofi Annan who resigned this month as his peace plan had failed to achieve a real ceasefire.
Analysts say he has a formidable reputation at the UN but is also seen as independent of the major powers.
Officials in Damascus have also given him their support.
However, opposition groups have expressed scepticism about his ability to accomplish his mission.
Mr Brahimi has said it is too soon for him to demand that Mr Assad should step down. Mr Annan had said it was clear he should leave office.
Announcing his resignation earlier this month, Mr Annan had said he was unable to fulfil his role because of the growing militarisation of the conflict, as well as deadlock in the UN Security Council.
Russia and China have vetoed resolutions on the crisis three times, citing their opposition to any action which might be seen as regime change imposed from outside.
Activists estimate about 20,000 people have died since anti-government protests erupted against the Assad regime in March last year. Tens of thousands of people have also fled the country.
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Today is
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is now a
Criminal
The End for Al-Assad is inevitable, and he will either be killed by one of his own, or he will be killed by a rebel, or he will be captured and arrested, tried, and be hung.
Millions of Syrians have either died, or been tortured, or been raped, or been severely wounded, or ran to other bordering nations in fear of being killed, raped, tortured or severely wounded.
One would wonder, how much destruction is necessary to remove a king, how many lives are required to be sacrificed for a king, in what times in the history of man, do we ever come to terms with the fact that 1 Man is no more valuable that any other 1 Man.
My Life isn't worth any other human being's life, and I would never require others to die or be wounded on my behalf, and if there ever arise a situation that I am considered worth millions of lives, I will yet refuse to allow one individual's life to be harmed on my behalf.
Leadership is the understanding of other's and never the understanding that one is worth more than any other.
Yet, in all the nations on earth, billions of citizens depend on flawed leaders who have found their worship by citizens who refuse to learn, as the limit of their requirement to earn their value.
The Individual capability is limitless, yet, even our leaders, who claim to know it all, have decided to learn no more, while citizens around the world starve, die from germs that have answers in half the world's nations, leaders pound their chest like a group of gorilla's and get absolutely nothing done.
Some how, citizens have allowed, leadership around the world, to treat other leaders as gods, all of which, are above the laws of the citizens, which explains why the world leaders have not called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a criminal, for ordering the murders of thousands of his citizens, for allowing the rape and torture of young innocent woman, and for these reasons, no man is worth the label of "leader".
The United Nations have failed the Syrian people, the Arab League is a joke, and the world leaders, especially the United States of America, have failed to nullify a mad man, and install justice, in a nation of citizens who are defenseless against a war machine of a king.
The Idiotic consideration of sending "another" negotiator to plead with a man that has already killed thousands, is the example of how weak this world's leadership is. China & Russia are nations that are lead by leadership that are nothing more than parasites..., to veto sanctions against Syria that would have controlled the amount of death and destruction that has taken place over the past 4 months, failed because of 2 nations leadership that are human germs.
To even consider negotiating with a mad man, a man that have shown that he has no consideration for the lives of his people, has rendered the nations leaders "inept" to command.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cannot be negotiated with, he should be arrested, and or killed, for the crimes that he has committed, and any leader that would opt to do business with him, is conspiring with a murderer, and ought to be arrested immediate, where he stands.
In My Opinion
ASKFMB
8/19/2012
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