His office has denied all such reports, saying he’s still at work in Damascus, but there has been no sign of him.

Syria has remained a divided country, with the deep scars of the years of civil war unhealed, despite the apparent stalemate and status quo that had been in place for around four years until just a week-and-a-half ago.

Assad’s pariah status had come to an end among his fellow Arab leaders, but no progress had been made within Syria towards building a viable future for its people in the aftermath of war.

But the presence of President Assad had seemed to be a seal, however unsatisfactory, on the deadly conflict that had raged for years.

If he is now out of the picture, a power vacuum will re-emerge, with no clear indication of how it will be filled. There is no unified opposition that is in place to take over. The rebel factions have a history of division and internecine fighting.

The group that has spearheaded the new uprising against President Assad has its foundation in the extremism of Al Qaeda. Its leader has tried to reassure other communities in Syria that it will not impose its ideology on them, but they remain understandably apprehensive of what might come.

There will be wider fears that Syria could plunge into an even more calamitous state, with various factions battling each other for control. In an already desperately unstable and volatile region, that could feed more dangerous unrest.

But for now at least, many Syrians both inside and outside the county are united by a hope that many felt they might never experience again – that they might be able to return to their homes, long lost in the bitter war that Assad’s violent repression of protest and dissent originally triggered.

The Dalai Lama said on Saturday that he is recovering from knee surgery and feels “physically fit,” brushing aside rumours of ill health on his 89th birthday.

“Recently, I had surgery on my knee, which has given me some problems. However, I am recovering and have no problem at all now,” the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism said in a video message from the United States, where he is recuperating.

“There may be people trying to confuse you about my health, saying that the Dalai Lama has gone to a hospital and is undergoing treatments, and so on, making my condition sound grave. You don’t need to trust such misinformation,” he said.

A charismatic figure who popularised Buddhism internationally, the Dalai Lama won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for keeping alive the Tibetan cause in exile. He fled to India in 1959, nine years after China sent troops into the Himalayan region in 1950, saying it was liberating Tibetan “serfs”.

As the spiritual leader ages and battles health problems, the appointment of his successor has become a looming issue for Tibetans struggling for more autonomy in China or outright independence. Tibetan Buddhists believe that learned monastics are reincarnated after death as newborns.

The Dalai Lama has said he will clarify questions about succession—including whether and where he will be reincarnated—around his 90th birthday.

“I am nearly 90 now, but I don’t feel unhealthy, except for the slight discomfort in my legs. I would like to thank all my fellow Tibetans in and outside Tibet for your prayers on my birthday,” he said, adding that some issues are part of ageing.

Tens of thousands of Buddhists and well-wishers around the world will gather on Saturday to celebrate and pray for the long life of a leader who represents their strongest hope of an eventual return to Tibet.