The audience at a movie premiere Wednesday in Damascus reportedly surprised murderous Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad with birthday songs for his 54th birthday.

The pro-Assad al-Masdar News (AMN) reports:

Syrian President Bashar Assad received an unexpected birthday party when the audience sang “Happy Birthday’ during a movie premiere at Damascus Opera House. The 54-year-old President was with his wife, Asma Assad, at the opera House downtown [in] the Syrian capital to attend the premiere of a film when the entire crowd stood up and joyfully sang Happy Birthday. Assad looked both pleased and astonished by the surprise.

Russia and Iran helped Assad regain control of most of the country, save for the region in and around northwestern Idlib province — mainly controlled by al-Qaeda-linked fighters, other jihadis, and Turkey-allied rebels vying for power. Since April, Assad, with the help of Russia and Iran, have been bombarding the area to push the jihadis and rebels out. A deal between Assad’s ally Russia and pro-opposition Turkey failed to clear the area of jihadis.

Throughout the Syrian conflict — raging since March 2011 —Assad and his wife have reportedly visited troops involved at various front lines of the ongoing battle.

AMN notes:

Asma Assad, on the other hand, never ceased providing assistance and field visits to organizations and institutions which deliver medical services to sick people (especially children with cancer) and injured soldiers.

She recovered from cancer in August.

“Praise God; it’s over. I have fully triumphed over cancer,” she said during a state TV interview, the Australian Associated Press (AAP).

AAP points out:

Today’s Birthday, September 11: Bashar al-Assad, Syrian President [born in 1965]. The conflict in Syria has all but faded from the headlines, with Bashar al-Assad managing to claw back most of the country after almost losing control of it in 2012. But the war rages on in the northern Idlib province, the last hold out for the country’s rebels, with the [United Nations] warning in June that it could be on the brink of a “humanitarian nightmare unlike anything we have seen this century.”

The United States recently targeted la-Qaeda jihadis near Idlib who were allegedly seeking to attack the American homeland.