BEIRUT — There was no respite from the fighting in Syria on Tuesday as Muslims celebrated Eid al-Adha, one of the most important Islamic holidays. Government airstrikes rattled rebel strongholds on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus, and clashes were reported across the country, according to opposition and government accounts.
State television, meanwhile, broadcast images of Syrian President Bashar Assad sitting cross-legged at a prayer service led by Imam Mohammed Tawfiq Bouti, son of a senior pro-government cleric who died in a bombing at a Damascus mosque in March. Each side in the conflict blames the other for the attack that killed the imam's father, Mohammed Bouti, along with scores of others.
After Tuesday’s service in Damascus, photographs shared via social media showed Assad wading through crowds of supporters, shaking hands.
Although in the past both sides have attempted to observe temporary cease-fires on religious holidays, there was no sign of a halt to hostilities Tuesday.
Rebel fighters fired mortar rounds and rockets into three Damascus neighborhoods, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based pro-opposition group.
