Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family are still in Damascus and he keeps commanding the military against the rebellion, Al Arabiya reported citing the Israeli armed forces.
There were doubts that Assad remained in Damascus after a bomb killed four of his high command officers last Wednesday in the country’s capital. It has also been quite a while since he last appeared in public.
“The [Syrian] military is still loyal to Assad, despite a very big wave of defections, and he and his family are still in Damascus,” the agency quoted Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai, chief spokesman for Israel’s armed forces, as saying.
On Sunday, the Arab League Council held an emergency meeting of foreign ministers on Syria in the Qatari capital. The ministers urged Assad to hand over the power to the interim government and step down. They guaranteed safety for him and his family if he resigns.
The United Nations, quoting Syrian rights activists, says some 16,000 people have died in Syria since the start of the now almost 17-month revolt against Assad.
