Syria’s Assad Greets Public Day After Bomb Hits Capital

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Syria’s state television says President Bashar Assad has made a rare public appearance, visiting a Damascus power station on May Day the day after a powerful bomb hit the capital.

Today’s broadcast showed brief clips of Assad speaking to workers at what it said was the Umayyad Electrical Station in the Tishrin Park district.

At least 14 people were killed in the blast. It was the second attack in the heart of the capital, Assad’s seat of power, in two days.

The television showed Assad, looking confident and wearing a dark business suit, shaking hands with workers.

It also showed Assad standing in a garden talking with the workers, who encircled him.