CNN reported that Assad fled Damascus: Iran tried to deny it

Iranian officials deny that Assad has fled Syria.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is not in Damascus, but the official authorities deny that he has left the capital, CNN reports , citing a source.

A source familiar with the situation said that “Assad is not in any of the places in the city where he could be found.” Assad’s presidential guard is no longer stationed at his usual residence, as it would be if he were there, the source said. The Syrian president’s office insists that Assad has not left the capital.

Iranian officials have dismissed reports that their ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has left the country, as a source told CNN he is nowhere to be found in Damascus.

“The news that Assad and his family have left Syria is not true,” said Yaqub Rezazadeh, a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committees, according to Iranian state-run Press TV.

An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with Assad in Damascus the day before, Press TV reported on Saturday. The adviser, Ali Larijani, met with Assad to “express Iran’s support for the Syrian government amid the latest rebel uprising.”

Iranian officials also denied reports that their staff were being evacuated from the embassy in Damascus. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Bahaei said: