Sharaa was last seen at the funeral of four top Syrian government officials who were killed in July 18 bombing in Damascus. Since then, widespread rumors have circulated that he defected to Jordan. Jordan and Sharaa’s office continually denied he defected.

Sharaa, 73, Syria’s vice president since 2006, is the most powerful Sunni figure in the minority Alawite-led regime, and has served in top posts for almost 30 years.

Earlier this month, the opposition claimed that Sharaa had defected and said he was being held under house arrest by the Syrian regime, according to Al Arabiya.

However, state television on August 19 quoted a statement from his office saying: “Mr Sharaa has never thought about leaving the country or going anywhere.”

Meanwhile, SANA Syrian State TV had said on Saturday that a fake email had been sent out in its name claiming that Shara had been sacked, adding that the “information is completely wrong”. It also denied that foreign minister Walid Muallem had announced on Twitter he had replaced Shara, saying that the he did not even have a Twitter account.

Assad’s government has been hit by several defections as the Syrian conflict has escalated, including former Prime Minister Riad Hijab.

President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday said that Syria would defeat what he described as a foreign plot being waged against the country, according to the official SANA news agency

. “The Syrian people will prevent this conspiracy from reach its goals at any price,” he said.

Assad’s statement came during his meeting with the Iranian delegation led by Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission.