Syria: Assad 'Unharmed After Rebel Attack'

Syrian authorities have denied claims that President Bashar al Assad's motorcade was attacked by rebels in Damascus.

Rebel groups claimed they launched the attack as Mr Assad travelled to attend prayers to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al Fitr, but footage broadcast on state TV showed him apparently looking relaxed and smiling as he arrived at a mosque.

A video distributed by the Tahrir al Sham rebels showed smoke rising from what it said was the Malki district, where Mr Assad and his close aides have homes.

The group's leader Firas al Bitar said his fighters had carried out reconnaissance of the route of the president's motorcade and fired 120mm artillery towards the convoy.

"The attack rattled the regime, even if Assad was not hit," he told Reuters from an undisclosed location in the capital.

"There were two motorcades, one containing Assad and a decoy. We targeted the correct one."

Islam Alloush of the Liwa al Islam, another rebel brigade, told Reuters that rebels fired rockets which hit Mr Assad's motorcade as he was heading to attend the prayers.

He said: "Assad was not hit but the information we have based from sources within the regime is that there were casualties within his entourage."

Other activists also reported rockets were fired into the Malki area, which was sealed off by security forces.

Syria's Information Minister Omran al Zohbi told state TV the rebel claims were false.

He said: "These reports are totally false. The president was driving his car himself, he attended the prayer and greeted people ... everything is normal."

If confirmed, the attack would be one of the most direct against Mr Assad in two years of conflict, which have pitched mainly Sunni Muslim rebels against the Alawite president.

Rebels have targeted presidential residences in Damascus and a bombing in the capital last year killed four senior regime officials, but there have been no reports of Mr Assad himself coming under fire.