| Things appear to be looking up for Assad the Younger. Could it be that the rebels are correct in their assessment? |
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Lord of the Baath...
made a visit on Thursday to the town of Daraya outside Damascus, a former rebel bastion now mainly under government control, state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported.
The broadcaster aired no immediate footage to accompany its report.
It was one of the few occasions that Assad had been reported to have traveled outside the capital since an uprising against his rule erupted in March 2011.
It came as he sent an Army Day message to troops telling them he was "sure of victory" over the rebels.
"If we in Syria were not sure of victory, we would not have had the will to resist nor been able to persevere in the face of more than two years of aggression," he said.
"I have great faith in you and confidence in your ability to... fulfill the national mission that has been assigned to you," Assad told troops in the message.
"You have shown rare courage in the battle against terrorism and you have impressed the whole world with your resistance... in one of the most brutal and ferocious wars of modern history," he said.
His comments came after troops recaptured a key neighborhood of the strategic central city of Homs on Monday in the biggest gain so far of a month-long assault.
The army has also been on the offensive in the eastern suburbs of the capital and west of the main northern city of Aleppo.
The 28-month conflict has killed more than 100,000 people, according to the United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
, but U.N. efforts to convene a Russian- and U.S.-backed peace conference have stalled.