Defiant Syrian President Assad works as usual after U.S.-led airstrikes: office

DAMASCUS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian Presidency media office on Saturday released a video clip showing President Bashar al-Assad entering his office as usual after the U.S.-led airstrikes on Syria earlier in the day.

The video clip, titled "Morning of Steadfastness," was apparently meant to show the strength and defiance of Assad in the face of the U.S.-led airstrikes, brushing aside recent rumors about the whereabouts of the Syrian president.

Before daybreak on Saturday, the U.S., along with its allies Britain and France, launched airstrikes against Syrian military positions in the capital Damascus and central province of Homs.

People in Damascus were awaken by the sounds of loud explosions and saw red dots flying into the sky, in what later turned out to be the air defenses responding to the missile attack.

The Syrian Army said in a statement that about 110 missiles were fired by the U.S. and its allies on Syrian military sites, damaging the Research Scientific Center in northeast of Damascus and the military bases in Homs.

Most of the missiles were intercepted before reaching targets, it noted.

The joint airstrikes came under the pretext of punishing the Syrian government for the alleged use of chemical weapons in an attack on the rebel-held town of Douma in east of Damascus on April 7.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he ordered the U.S. armed forces to launch precision strikes on targets associated with the chemical weapon capabilities of the Syrian army.

The Syrian government has repeatedly rejected the alleged chemical attack in Douma as fabrications by rebels and their foreign supporters to justify military strikes on Syria. Enditem