The images are intimate .... Syrian President Bashar al Assad visiting his troops hunkered down on the outskirts of Damascus on New Year's Eve.<br /> <br />'How many hours have you been here?' he asks?<br /> <br />"We're here 24 hours a day, they reply, 'watching any movement.'<br /> <br />State TV says the visit was in Jobar, a district that reportedly came under heavy Syrian airforce strikes earlier in the day.<br /> <br />Government forces have been trying to dislodge insurgents from Jobar, which was captured by anti-Assad fighters in 2013.<br /> <br />In a New Year's Eve message, Bashar tells the men 'I came here to be with you as we say goodbye to one year and receive a new one.'<br /> <br />He wishes them more victories in the new year and salutes the men for fighting rebels and 'terrorists'.<br /> <br />Assad has visited troops in the past but -- four years into a protracted civil war -- it's rare now that he's seen in public.<br /> <br />His forces control central Damascus but continue to face pitched battles on the fringes
