Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus (Photo: Reuters/Sana)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appeared on television on Tuesday for the first time in more than two weeks, meeting a top envoy from closest ally Iran as his troops engaged rebels in key battleground city Aleppo.
Saeed Jalili, a top aide to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, went straight into his meeting with Assad on arriving from neighbouring Lebanon a day after Syria's prime minister abandoned the regime.
"Assad and Jalili discussed bilateral relations between Syria and the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as the situation in the region," state television reported.
The last time footage of Assad was screened was when he received new armed forces chief General Ali Ayyub on July 22, four days after a bombing claimed by the rebel Free Syrian Army killed four top security chiefs.
Iranian state media quoted Jalili as saying Tehran "believes in national dialogue between all domestic groups to be the solution, and believes foreign solutions are not helpful."
"We hope to take an effective step in regards to this new direction."
In Beirut on Monday, Jalili issued a veiled warning to countries backing the rebels.
"Those who believe that, by developing insecurity in the countries of the region by sending arms and exporting terrorism, they are buying security for themselves are wrong," he told Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, Iran's official IRNA news agency said.
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