Syria’s Assad says Eid prayers in Hama for the first time since war started

The visit appeared to be the furthest he has travelled inside Syria since fighting started in 2011, a sign of growing confidence after army gains aided by Russian air strikes.

Syria's president Bashar Al Assad, third left, attending prayers on the first day of Eid Al Fitr, inside a mosque in Hama on June 25, 2017, Syria. Sana / Reuters

BEIRUT // Syrian president Bashar Al Assad led Eid Al Fitr prayers in the central city of Hama on Sunday, appearing in public outside the capital for the first time in a year.

It was the furthest he had travelled inside Syria in years – a sign of his growing confidence.

State television broadcast footage of Mr Al Assad standing to pray in a large mosque in Hama behind its imam, with other clerics standing alongside and a large crowd of worshippers.

His office published images of him greeting worshippers outside after praying inside the brightly lit Al Nuri mosque at dawn.

He was flanked by Islamic endowments minister Mohammad Abdel Sattar Sayyed and Syria’s top Muslim cleric Ahmad Badredine Hassoun.

State news agency Sana quoted the preacher as saying that Mr Al Assad’s presence in the city for Eid showed that victory and the return of security were only “a few steps” away.

Ahead of the holiday, Syria’s government released more than 670 detainees - including some children born to prisoners - from jails around Damascus on Saturday.

The embattled president’s last public appearance outside Damascus was during Eid Al Fitr in July 2016, which he spent in third city Homs.

Presidential trips outside the capital have become rare since Syria’s conflict broke out more than six years ago.

But the civil war turned to Mr Al Assad’s favour in 2015, when Russia sent its jets to help his army and allied Shiite militias backed by Iran turn back rebels and win new ground.

Since the war started in 2011, it has killed hundreds of thousands, driven millions more from their homes, sparked a global refugee crisis and drawn regional and world powers into the war.

The conflict is far from over. Rebels hold swathes of the country, including around Idlib province near Hama, and launched a new attack in Quneitra in the south-west on Saturday.

Rebels also hold the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus, parts of the desert in the south-east and a large pocket south of Hama around the city of Rastan.

Hama city is the capital of the governorate by the same name, where Syrian government troops are battling extremists and their rebel allies.

* Agence France-Presse and Reuters