Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who it was believed had disappeared, has surfaced briefly in a Damascus mosque. The country´s state-run television network aired footage of the elusive president performing the prayers for the Eid al-Fitr holiday that concludes the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Sunday´s appearance is Assad´s first in public since a July 18 Damascus bombing on the country´s security cabinet. It was believed that Assad had fled or otherwise disappeared, a day after a suicide bombing decimated his security and defense staff.

The attack killed half of the government´s six-member crisis council, including Assef Shawkat, Assad´s brother-in-law. Assad´s brother, Maher al-Assad, lost a leg in the attack and has not been seen in public since.

Among the dead were Syria´s defense minister and three other top security officials, including Assad´s brother-in-law.

Last Thursday, senior defense official Colonel Yarab al-Shara announced that he, too, had defected, joining the dozens of top military officials and diplomats who abandoned Assad´s regime.

Al-Shara, a cousin of Syrian vice president Farouk al-Shara, labeled Assad´s government a “murdering regime” in a message broadcast on the pan-Arab Al-Arabiya satellite news network. (IsraelNationalNews © 2011 08/19/12)