Syria’s head of state Bashar al-Assad apparently suffered a fit of weakness during a speech to the newly composed parliament in Damascus. According to “Spiegel Online”, which refers to Syrian state television, Assad had to interrupt his speech for a few minutes due to “low blood pressure”. He was able to continue speaking normally.
The news of the attack of weakness was also broadcast on the official Twitter channel of the presidency, along with a photo that Assad apparently showed during his speech to parliamentarians. Parliament in Syria is not made up of democratically elected members, but exclusively of the faithful of the ruler. There were no live pictures of the speech; it was recorded and is to be broadcast on state television in the evening.
Assad has defended his power for more than nine years in a civil war against numerous rebel groups. He has been able to assert himself primarily through the support of Russia and the Iranian-led Lebanese Hezbollah.
Tens of thousands of people have died, 5.5 million have fled. More than three million people saved themselves from the war in Turkey, hundreds of thousands fled to the neighbouring countries of Jordan and Lebanon.
The Syrian capital is currently suffering greatly from the Covid 19 pandemic. Beyond “low blood pressure”, government sources did not provide any information on Assad’s health. Assad has no known pre-existing conditions.
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