ALEPPO, Syria, (Reuters) – President Bashar al-Assad told his troops today that their battle against rebels would determine Syria’s fate but his written message gave no clues to his whereabouts two weeks after a bomb attack hit his inner circle.
Assad has not spoken in public since the bombing in Damascus on July 18 killed four of his close security aides although he has been seen on television.
His latest remarks – made as the two sides battled for control of Syria’s commercial capital Aleppo – appeared in a statement in the military’s magazine to mark armed forces day.
But it was not clear exactly when or where he was speaking, indicating heightened concern over his personal security in the wake of the bombing at the defence headquarters in the capital.
“The fate of our people and our nation, past, present and future, depends on this battle,” he said.
In confronting “terrorist criminal gangs” – the government’s usual term for the rebels, the army had proved it had “the steely resolve and conscience and that you are the trustees of the people’s values”, he said.
In the northern city of Aleppo, rebel fighters seized three police stations while fighting the army for control of a strategically important district.
Explosions could be heard this morning and helicopter gunships cruised the skies as government forces tried to push the rebels out of the historic city and preserve one of Assad’s main centres of power.
Earlier, at least 10 volleys of shells lit up the darkened sky and drowned out the Islamic call to prayer. Carloads of rebel fighters shouting “God is great” sped off towards the fighting.
The battle for Aleppo has become a crucial test for both sides. Neither Assad’s forces nor the rebels can afford to lose if they hope to prevail in the wider struggle for Syria.
Since last month’s bomb attack, the fighting has become more intense, reaching into Damascus and Aleppo for the first time in the 17-month-old uprising against the Assad dynasty.
Video footage posted on the Internet appeared to show that rebel fighters were carrying out summary executions in Aleppo in much the same way as government forces have been accused of acting in Damascus.
One video showed four men identified as members of the pro-Assad Shabbiha militia being led down a flight of stair, lined up against a wall and shot in a hail of rifle fire as onlookers shouted “God is Greatest”.
In another video, a cameraman filmed the bodies of about 15 men lying dead at a police station. One rebel fired at the corpse of the station commander, blowing his head off. In both cases, the content of the footage could not immediately be verified.
