Syrian TV on Thursday showed video of President Bashar al-Assad, the
first images broadcast of him since a deadly attack on top officials a
day earlier.
The video, of al-Assad
with newly named Defense Minister Gen. Fahd Jassem al-Freij, came amid
growing speculation about al-Assad's whereabouts. Some reports suggested
he might have left the capital.
There was nothing in the
video to indicate immediately when it was taken, but Syrian TV reported
that al-Freij had taken his oath in front of al-Assad.
Although al-Assad has not
often appeared on television or in public events during the near
17-month crisis gripping his country, it is unusual for a leader not to
address a nation in the wake of a major bombing, and as violence rages
in the capital city.
What's next for Syria's president?
Major blow to al-Assad regime in attack
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Gunfire interrupts Syrian state TV report
The blast at a government building in Damascus killed three top officials, one of whom also was the president's brother-in-law.
Half a world away at U.N.
headquarters in New York, numerous world leaders were slamming
al-Assad's regime -- and condemning Russia and China for vetoing a new
Security Council resolution aimed at halting the violence.
The two countries are
"failing the people of Syria," said Britain's U.N. ambassador, Mark
Lyall Grant, who was first to speak at the Security Council meeting
after the vote. "The effect of their actions is to protect a brutal
regime."
Russia and China, which
have major trade deals with Syria, have said they want more balanced
resolutions that call on all sides to halt the violence.
Grant accused them of
putting "their national interests ahead of the lives of millions of
Syrians." And he said they are relying on al-Assad's "broken promises."
It marked the third time in 10 months that the two countries blocked tough resolutions focused on al-Assad's regime.
Susan Rice, the U.S.
ambassador to the United Nations, said those two countries' previous two
vetoes were "very destructive," and that this latest one is "even more
dangerous and deplorable."
"Despite paranoid, if
not disingenuous, claims to the contrary, it would in no way authorize
nor even pave the way for foreign military intervention" she said.
The resolution would have given the U.N. mission to Syria "a fighting chance to accomplish its mandate," she argued.
Russia shot back that the vote should never have taken place.
Russia had "very clearly
and consistently explained" that it would not accept a resolution that
"would open the path for pressure of sanctions and further to extend
military involvement in Syrian domestic affairs," said Vitaly Churkin,
Russia's ambassador to the United Nations.
Western diplomats "could
have done something, anything, to promote dialogue" rather than "fan
the flames of extremists," he said.
He described the draft resolution as "biased," saying it threatened sanctions exclusively at the Syrian government.
China's U.N. ambassador
Li Baodong said his country is also "highly concerned" about the
violence, but the draft resolution was "seriously problematic," because
it intended to pressure only one side in the conflict. It would not help
resolve the issue, "but derail the issue from the track of political
segment," further aggravating turmoil, he argued.
Syria's U.N. ambassador
Bashar Jaafari slammed the council for not issuing an official
condemnation of Wednesday's bombing, although he noted that Kofi Annan,
joint envoy to Syria for the United Nations and the Arab League,
condemned it.
The lack of an official
condemnation by the council indicates that talk of "supporting a
peaceful solution in Syria is but a slogan," Jaafari argued.
He said the "Syrian people alone" should decide their future "without foreign intervention."
He rejected a
"misleading picture" of Syria as a tyrannical regime killing its people
and said a solution should be found through a "political process that
satisfies the Syrian people." All will participate to help "establish
democracy" and "free elections," he insisted.
The al-Assad family has ruled Syria for more than 40 years.
When asked later about
Jaafari's complaint, France's U.N. ambassador Jean-Hugues Simon-Michel
said, "We have always condemned terrorism, so I think there is no
ambiguity." He added that the attack highlights the need for an end to
the bloodshed.
At least 94 people were
killed Thursday, including 25 in Damascus suburbs and 13 inside
Damascus, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.
The Damascus suburb Qaboon was under heavy fire Thursday, according to
an opposition activist.
Residents trying to flee
the violence have nowhere to go because clashes are raging in most of
Damascus province, said Omar al-Dimashki, a spokesman for the Revolution
Leadership Council of Damascus.
"It is surrounded by tanks, and anything that moves is currently being shelled, and rockets are falling on the homes," he said.
Syria, which blames the
violence on "armed terrorist groups," said it "repelled" some groups
that attempted to enter Syria from Lebanon on Wednesday night.
The regime said Wednesday's bombing was carried out by people "implementing foreign plots."
The Syrian military
issued a statement stressing its "resolution to decisively eliminating
the criminal and murder gangs and chasing them out of their rotten
hideouts wherever they are until clearing the homeland of their evils,"
state-run news agency SANA said.
Anyone who thinks that targeting leaders will "twist Syria's arms is 'deluded,'" the statement said, according to SANA.
The officials killed in
the blast were the defense minister; the deputy defense minister, who is
the president's brother-in-law; and al-Assad's security adviser and
assistant vice president, state TV reported.
The deputy head of the
rebel Free Syrian Army, Col. Malek al-Kurdi, said the attack was
coordinated by rebel brigades. But some other rebel commanders say it's
unclear who was behind the attack.
As violence has raged in
what the Red Cross now declares to be a civil war across the country,
world leaders have stepped up diplomatic efforts.
Annan traveled to Moscow this week in hopes of winning support from Russia for tough action at the Security Council.
U.S. President Barack
Obama called his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to discuss the
Syrian situation, the White House said in a statement Wednesday.
But Thursday's Security Council vote showed those diplomatic efforts had failed.
Western countries were
pushing for a resolution that threatened new sanctions if government
forces don't stop attacks against civilians.
Pakistan and South Africa abstained from voting.
The resolution also
called for renewing the 300-member U.N. observer mission for 45 days
after it was suspended because of violence.
Russia put forward its
own draft, which "strongly urges all parties in Syria to cease
immediately all armed violence in all its forms."
Since the crisis began
in March 2011, the United Nations estimates, more than 10,000 people
have been killed in the violence; the opposition Local Coordination
Committees of Syria estimates that more than 16,000 have died.
CNN cannot independently
confirm reports of violence in the nation because the government
restricts access by foreign journalists.