Assad prays at Damascus mosque for Eid al-Adha

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad prayed at a Damascus mosque early on Tuesday morning as Muslims marked the Eid al-Adha holiday, state media said.State television broadcast images of the president entering the Hassiba mosque and waving to supporters before taking part in prayers.The prayers were led by Imam Mohamed Tawfik al-Bouti, the son of Mohamed al-Bouti, a senior pro-regime religious figure who was killed in a bombing at a mosque in March.Assad, who has rarely been seen in public since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, attended prayers at a Damascus mosque on August 8, for the Eid al-Fitr holiday.Eid al-Adha is celebrated by Muslims across the world, commemorating the willingness of Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son at God’s command. It marks the peak of the Hajj pilgrimage, during which pilgrims sacrifice sheep and cattle. The Eid lasts up to three days and is a public holiday in Muslim countries. More than two million Muslims, dressed in plain white clothes, have flooded Mina in Saudi Arabia, which is a valley outside the holy city of Mecca, to continue performing the Hajj rituals. The Islamic ritual in the Syrian capital was held at a time when Syria is gripped by foreign-sponsored militancy.More than 115,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011, according to the Britain-based monitoring group./149