Assad gets a cheek full of protection

Life just keeps getting tougher for Syrian President Bassar Ashad. Civil war has raged in his country for nearly two years, many of his top advisers have either defected or been killed by rebel forces, and leaders from around the world, including other Arab states, are accusing him of war crimes and calling for his removal.

Now, he’s also been head-butted by his own bodyguard.

With violent battles continuing daily, and the rebels reportedly closing in on him, the president has mostly stayed out of sight in recent months. However, on Sunday, he did make a rare public appearance to address a full house at the Opera House in central Damascus.

The venue was, predictably, packed with supporters of the embattled leader, and at the end of his speech Assad was thronged with well-wishers, hand-shakers and other dictator groupies. One of his bodyguards tried to give Assad some space from the throng, and inadvertently butted him in the cheek with his head.

Although his head visibly snapped back, the president was apparently not seriously injured in the incident, doubtless to the chagrin of Syria’s opposition, whom Assad referred to in the speech as “terrorists,” “murderous criminals” and “servants who know nothing but the language of slaughter.”

Nevertheless, rebels and revolutionaries across the land presumably took pleasure in the bodyguarding mishap, a video of which was swiftly uploaded to YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7tNj2zU_TEo