Syria: Beginning of the End for Assad?

YankeeFan · Nov 13, 2011

Starting to look like a death spiral.

Turkey sent planes to evacuate its diplomats’ families from Syria on Sunday after a night of attacks on foreign embassies in Damascus, the capital. The events seemed sure to deepen Syria’s most pronounced isolation of the four decades of Assad family rule.

Several thousand Syrians attacked the embassies and consulates of Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and France on Saturday evening, shortly after the Arab League announced its surprising decision to suspend Syria’s membership for failing to end the bloody crackdown on antigovernment protesters.

Turkey’s evacuation, and denunciations of the attacks by other countries, set the stage for a tumultuous week in the uprising against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which began in March.

The Arab League has invited Syrian opposition figures to Cairo on Tuesday in what seems to be a bid to close the ranks of an unwieldy group. If Syria does not relent in its crackdown, which the United Nations says has killed more than 3,500 people, the suspension will take effect on Wednesday.

The Syrian government, meanwhile, called Sunday for an urgent Arab summit meeting and invited Arab League officials to visit Damascus for talks.

“We’re going to witness a complete meltdown in the regime from here on,” said Hussein Shobokshi, a columnist with Asharq al-Awsat, a Saudi-owned Arabic newspaper. “People want a complete regime change. There is a regional desire for change, and no one in the region is willing to accommodate this regime anymore.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/14/world/middleeast/mobs-in-syria-attack-embassies-after-arab-league-decision.html?hp=&pagewanted=all
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wicked · Nov 13, 2011

This is pretty much a proxy war against Iran at this point. The Syrian regime falls, and that's really going to leave the Iranians looking bad. Also means Hezbollah is screwed.

NightHawk112005 · Nov 14, 2011

I hope this is the end. Very few people scare me more than Bashar Al-Assad.

wicked · Nov 14, 2011

NightHawk112005 said:

I hope this is the end. Very few people scare me more than Bashar Al-Assad.
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I can think of at least 10 -- Ahmadinejad, Khameini, Kim, Putin, Mugabe for starters. Assad is small potatoes and pretty weak compared to other folk.

NightHawk112005 · Nov 14, 2011

wicked said:

NightHawk112005 said:

I hope this is the end. Very few people scare me more than Bashar Al-Assad.
Click to expand...

I can think of at least 10 -- Ahmadinejad, Khameini, Kim, Putin, Mugabe for starters. Assad is small potatoes and pretty weak compared to other folk.
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Disagree. I do not underestimate the leader of Syria.

YankeeFan · Nov 14, 2011

King of Jordan calls on Assad to step down:

King Abdullah of Jordan added his voice on Monday to the growing pressure on the president of Syria to relinquish power, becoming the first Arab leader on Syria’s doorstep to call for a change in government to end the increasingly bloody political uprising there.

The Jordanian monarch’s remarks, made in an interview with the BBC, came as Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, was still smarting from the Arab League’s unexpectedly strong rebuke over the weekend with its decision to suspend Syria’s membership. Syria also faced additional sanctions imposed Monday by the European Union.

“I believe, if I were in his shoes, I would step down,” King Abdullah told the BBC. “If Bashar has the interest of his country, he would step down, but he would also create an ability to reach out and start a new phase of Syrian political life.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/world/middleeast/syria-calls-suspension-from-arab-league-a-dangerous-move.html?hp=&pagewanted=all
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wicked · Nov 14, 2011

Kind of rich considering where it's coming from. Then again, you could say that about any criticism from Arab leaders to Assad.

Stoney · Nov 14, 2011

wicked said:

NightHawk112005 said:

I hope this is the end. Very few people scare me more than Bashar Al-Assad.
Click to expand...

I can think of at least 10 -- Ahmadinejad, Khameini, Kim, Putin, Mugabe for starters. Assad is small potatoes and pretty weak compared to other folk.
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How is Assad more "small potatoes" than Mugabe?

wicked · Nov 14, 2011

Mugabe has absolute power over his country, Assad is pretty much a figurehead for the Iranians.

YankeeFan · Dec 2, 2011

Fareed Zakaria:

But a big reason I think the Assad regime will fall is simple: It's running out of money.

Remember, Syria is not an oil regime. It doesn't have that much cash. It has always relied on trade and smuggling and some money from Iran. The United Nations sanctions are actually quite effective in cutting down trade. And Turkey is now going to impose its own sanctions on Syria, which is very significant. It will squeeze Assad even tighter.

Assad leads a minority regime that has been able to stay in power by bribing key members of the Sunni elite in both the business community and the military. At the end of the day, that game becomes much more difficult to play once the money runs out.

For this reason, I think we are now seeing the beginning of the end of Assad's rule. It may still take a year to run its course. But I now think this regime is going to collapse after all.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/01/zakaria-why-i-now-think-assad-will-fall/
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Stitch · Dec 2, 2011

NightHawk112005 said:

wicked said:

NightHawk112005 said:

I hope this is the end. Very few people scare me more than Bashar Al-Assad.
Click to expand...

I can think of at least 10 -- Ahmadinejad, Khameini, Kim, Putin, Mugabe for starters. Assad is small potatoes and pretty weak compared to other folk.
Click to expand...

Disagree. I do not underestimate the leader of Syria.
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Syria couldn't keep its troops in Lebanon, so no, the country isn't powerful. Syria isn't a big factor in U.S. or European foreign policy, or NATO would have intervened. If it were important, Hilary Clinton wouldn't have taken a trip to Burma.

YankeeFan · Dec 15, 2014

Did she find him "interesting"?

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad sat down with ABC News Anchor Barbara Walters for his first exclusive on-camera interview with an American journalist since the uprising in Syria began last March. Walters’ no-holds-barred interview with President Al-Assad in Damascus comes as he is under unprecedented international pressure to step down and stands accused by the Arab League, the United Nations (UN), and human rights groups of gross and systematic human rights violations.

The interview will air across ABC platforms on Wednesday, December 7, first on ABCNews.com and Yahoo! News’ Newsmakers series (6:00 am ET), then on “Good Morning America” (7:00 am ET), “The View” (11:00 am ET) and “World News with Diane Sawyer” (6:30 pm ET). “Nightline” will air a Special Edition: “Barbara Walters in Syria: Assad Speaks” devoting full program to Walters’ report from inside Syria (11:35 pm ET). Portions of the interview will also be available on ABC News Radio and ABC NewsOne.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2011/12/abc-news-exclusive-syrian-president-bashar-al-assad-speaks-with-barbara-walters-2/#.Tt4g2lG1NJE.twitter
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