SYRIA'S President Bashar al-Assad marks his 48th birthday today as the threat of US-led strikes against his regime apparently receding. A Syrian pro-regime site called on residents of the capital Damascus to demonstrate their support for Assad by joining a convoy of cars in the Mazzeh district to honour him. Assad, a British-trained ophthalmologist who has three children, succeeded his father Hafez, who died in 2000. He came to the position of heir unexpectedly, after his brother Bassel was killed in a car accident. Once considered a potential reformer, who discussed the need for political and economic openness after he took office, Assad has responded with an iron fist to an uprising that began in March 2011. More than 110,000 people have been killed in the violence that erupted after his forces cracked down on demonstrators calling for his ouster, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. A grab taken from the state-run Syrian TV shows Syria's embattled President Bashar al-Assad. He marks his birthday as the threat of imminent US-led strikes against his regime appears to have waned. US President Barack Obama has stepped back from immediately approving a military blow against Syria, but said in a televised address to Americans that such an option was still very much on the cards. The strikes, which were intended to punish the regime for allegedly using chemical weapons on August 21, appear to be on hold as a Russian proposal that Syria hand over its chemical weapons is discussed. Inside Syria, Assad is believed to have a firm grip on his regime, more than two years after the uprising began. "He is even more the 'boss' than before, even if he can't act without the support of the military and security apparatus," according Nikolaos van Dam, a Dutch diplomat and author of a book on Syria. "He listens to his advisors, but he takes the decision by himself," adds an expert based in Beirut. Assad's confidantes include his brother Maher al-Assad, a colonel who heads the division in charge of Damascus, as well as his wife Asma. Most of his inner circle, like Assad, hails from the Alawite minority, although his wife Asma is a Sunni Muslim.