Syrian President Assad Visits His Troops - East Idaho News
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Syrian President Assad Visits His Troops

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98963494?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1375431837212Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images(DAMASCUS, Syria) — Syrian state television reports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with members of his security forces in the town of Daraya, southwest of Damascus, on Thursday and reportedly said he was confident of victory against rebels.

One photo posted on the presidency’s official Facebook page showed Assad, in a suit, shaking hands with a soldier in army fatigues and a helmet.  Behind them was an apartment block damaged by an explosion.

The Syrian army launched an artillery offensive against Daraya after rebels moved into the area last year.  The army has since been able to retake parts of the town.

Meanwhile, in the Syrian city of Homs, at least 40 people were killed in a rocket attack on an ammunition dump, the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The rebel Free Syrian Army claimed it carried out the attack, which struck a government-controlled area.

The human rights group said the death toll was likely to rise because more than 100 people had been injured in the blast, many of them seriously.

The 28-month-old Syrian civil war has taken the lives of more than 100,000 people and forced another two million to flee to other countries.

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