The Syrian President broke his silence after the bombing at the Presidential palace which killed three of his most senior officials to appear on state television.

The footage appears to show President Bashar al-Assad welcoming the new defence minister Fahad Jassim al-Freij. The Minister is then officially signed in. The two men sit down, all smiles, in deep discussion. There is no confirmation where or when the footage was filmed but it will confirm that Assad was not killed in the attack.

Since the bombing on Wednesday Syrian rebels have launched a series of co-ordinated attacks in what it calls 'the liberation of Damascus'. This footage shows Syrian rebels defacing a picture of the President after they captured a number of positions of on the borders of Turkey and Iraq. A senior Iraqi official said all the crossings on Syria's eastern frontier had been seized. At one point, two Turkish posts were also in rebel hands.

This picture of Assad's father Hafez Al Assad was also burnt by rebels.

According to Reuters who spoke with a senior unnamed party official, President Assad is at his palace in Latakia, and that he may have been there for days. While his wife Asma has fled to Russia.

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