Syrian Opposition Hopeful as Assad Whereabouts Unknown
Ynet: Syrian Oppositions Hopeful That “Assad Will Be Next”
The terrorist that carried out Wednesday’s terror attack in the heart of Damascus did not only kill and injure some of the Syrian regime’s top officials, he tore apart President Bashar Assad’s inner circle.
Rebels claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they had been planning it for two months.
“God willing, this is the beginning of the end of the regime,” said Riad al-Asaad, a commander of the disparate rebel forces who operate across the country. Al-Asaad, who is not related to the president, spoke to The Associated Press by telephone from Turkey, where he is based.
“Hopefully Bashar will be next,” Al-Asaad said in a chilling warning to the 46-year-old Syrian president, a tall, lanky leader who once felt so confident in his security that he was known to hate being surrounded by bodyguards.
Patrick Seale, biographer of Assad’s father, Hafez Assad, said: “Assad is a front man for a big security establishment of 300,000 regular army. He has a small clique that supplies him with information.
“They might still mount a coup against him and that remains his big threat.”
As fighting rages in Damascus, and the Assad family that has ruled Syria for four decades struggles for its life against a growing rebellion, a picture is emerging of a tight inner group determined to fight its way out of the crisis, even as support for the government falls away.