Syria`s Assad prays at Damascus mosque for Eid al-Adha

Damascus: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad prayed at a Damascus mosque Tuesday early morning as Muslims marked the Eid al-Adha holiday, state media said. State television broadcast images of the president entering the Hassiba mosque and waving to the supporters before taking part in prayers. The prayers were led by Imam Mohamed Tawfik al-Bouti, the son of Mohamed al-Bouti, a senior pro-regime religious figure who was killed in a bombing at a mosque in March. Assad, who has rarely been seen in public since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, attended prayers at a Damascus mosque on August 8, for the Eid al-Fitr holiday. At the time, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported shelling in the area where the president had gone to pray, with activists saying opposition fighters had "targeted" his convoy. More than 115,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011, according to the Britain-based monitoring group.