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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad recently spent part of his day driving through a suburb of Damascus on a Honda Civic 1. Why is this making international news?

The part of the Syrian capital he appeared to drive through is a war-torn section called Eastern Ghouta. You might remember us reporting on this.

It was an area held by rebels who are fighting the Syrian government. It's been under a government siege for six years and Syrian forces launched an all-out assault on eastern Ghouta, several weeks ago.

So, President Assad's drive through the area, when he negotiates traffic and passes taxis and pedestrians 2, without appearing to get noticed is apparently 3 his way of showing his military's fight here has been successful.

The battle was incredibly destructive. After it started, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously for a ceasefire. Both the government and the rebels ignored that almost immediately. The U.N. says that 400,000 civilians 5 in eastern Ghouta suffered through the onslaught.

It looks like it's nearing an end. Observers expect the government to eventually defeat the rebels there and take over the entire area in the days ahead. But no one knows when or if the scars of war will heal.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Bashar al-Assad is at the wheel.

We're going to the Ghouta to see the situation, he says, driving through what appears to be normal traffic, without an apparent security escort on his way to the eastern Ghouta, on the outskirts 6 of Damascus.

Under siege for years, for a month, the scene of the government offensive to crush this rebel-held pocket. According to the United Nations, more than a thousand civilians have been killed, tens of thousands have fled the government-held areas.

God willing, anything that can be liberated 7 without fighting is best, he says. Let's not forget there are civilians and we must preserve their lives.

It's a surreal work of propaganda. The Syrian every man on a day trip to the ruins of his realm.

His bodyguards 8 reappear when he meets people who greet him with kisses and chants.

With our souls and blood, we sacrifice ourselves for you, Bashar.

In seven years, nearly half a million Syrians have been sacrificed in a war far from over.

Many killed by a government that has showered its opponents with barrel bombs and in the eastern Ghouta in 2013, chemical weapons.

Meeting with commanders, he gives instruction to avoid civilian 4 casualties, because he says — maybe the terrorists are hiding behind the civilians.

The Syrian government has always framed its fight against the armed opposition 9 as an existential struggle between order and chaos 10.

The battle is bigger than Syria, al-Assad tells the troops. You're waging a battle for the world, every bullet you fire to kill a terrorist, you're changing the world order.

And while the Syrian president basked 11 on the cheers of his troops, Sunday, the bloodshed carried on. According to the Syrian-American Medical Society, during Assad's day out, government forces subjected the Ghouta to intense bombardment, killing 12 28 people, including four children and five women.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Beirut.