Epstein Secrets

simply Hafez al-Assad's son. David W. Lesch, a professor of Middle East history at Trinity University, is the author of "The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al- Asad and Modern Syria." SONY_GM_00078427 JPM-SDNY-00001554 EFTA_00188894 Confidential Treatment Requested by JPMorgan Chase EFTA01301050 9

conference at 6 pm on Thursday evening, in response to violent demonstrations in the southern town of Daraa near the border with Jordan. President Bashar al-Assad, she stressed, had given strict orders not to fire at demonstrators with live ammunition - and expressed his sorrow for the senseless loss of life

minority of the Alawite sect is Syria's equivalent to Saddam Hussein's clan of Tikriti Sunnis, both having ruled cruelly and bloodily. Indeed, the Assads have nursed a particular grudge against the Palestinians, almost all of them. They had little truck with Arafat and sided in the intra-Palestinian

94 Confidential Treatment Requested by JPMorgan Chase EFTA01301050 9 Article 3. Brookings The Syrian Rift Itamar Rabinovich March 27, 2011 - Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship is facing its biggest crisis since he inherited his father's position in June 2000. Not long ago, in a long, thrilling interview with

ential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban gave a press conference at 6 pm on Thursday evening, in response to violent demonstrations in the southern town of Daraa near the border with Jordan. President Bashar al-Assad, she stressed, had given strict orders not to fire at demonstrators with live ammunition - a

plot behind every popular democratic uprising. Artick 2. The Daily Beast Syria: The Lost Bequest of Hafez Assad Fouad Ajami January 23, 2012 -- Bashar, son of Hafez Assad, has a son by the name of Hafez. But as the defiance and bloodletting in £yria would seem to suggest, Bashar needn't worry abou

dispatched to prisons. The young inheritor was his father's son. A year ago, when the political hurricane known as the Arab Spring hit the region, Bashar al-Assad proclaimed his country's immunity to the troubles. He was young, the rulers challenged by their people were old, he was anti- American and anti-Isra

reign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week rejected any talk of new U.N. sanctions or arms embargo on Syria. He even defended Moscow's right to arm Mr. Assad as he kills more civilians. The business daily Kommersant reported yesterday that Russia has signed a $550 million contract to sell Syria 36 combat

n the general panic at the electoral success of the Muslim Brotherhood. The operation in Libya was a success. The growing international pressure on Basha al-Assad in Syria is encouraging -- but eventually the United States will have to do more. More generally, Obama has made steady moves in support of democra

raeli, hence the immunity of his regime. He was at one with his people, he said. Then a group of boys in mid-March, in the forlorn southern town of Daraa, went out and scribbled anti-regime graffiti on the walls. They were picked up and tortured. It was as though the custodians of this dictatorship k

ierjgco-resources.net> Subject: NowLebanon (s) - Syrian President Assad Ends Speech without Major Reform Pledge (Transcript) LIVE: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ends speech without major reform pledge - Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to meet again in your council to talk to you today about the situation

> Subject: Fw: NowLebanon (s) - Syrian President Assad Ends Speech without Major Reform Pledge (Transcr

who want to ignite the situation started [the demonstrations] in the Daraa province. - Daraa is in the heart of loyalty to Syria and all its people. Daraa is the first line of defense against the Israeli enemy, there is no way that its people, who defend the country, could be the provokers. The people

ria. - First, they started using the internet to ignite the situation. - Those who want to ignite the situation started [the demonstrations] in the Daraa province. - Daraa is in the heart of loyalty to Syria and all its people. Daraa is the first line of defense against the Israeli enemy, there is no

e - April 26-May 3, 2011 Date: Tue, 03 May 2011 20:23:06 +0000 Importance Normal Middle East Update April 26-May 3, 2011 Syria Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is gambling that he can stem the tide of the reformist movement in the country by using force. Reports suggest that the regime is relying exclusivel

therwise splinter. Aside from evoking resentment against the Alawite sect, this tactic may push Syria to the brink of sectarian conflict. President Assad continues to side with the hard-liners in his inner circle, including his brother Maher—who commands the Fourth Armored Division—and his brother-in

ts, demonstrators marched on the streets of the city calling for the downfall of President Assad's regime. Tensions also remain high in the city of Daraa as the military siege continues. On Sunday morning, Syrian security forces, with reinforcements, managed to reach the old quarter of the city and oc

nterviews with Syrians I met in Jordan or who talked with me from inside Syria by phone. My Syrian contacts described a bitter stalemate: President Bashar al-Assad holds on to power, but he has lost control of major parts of the country. The rebels fight bravely, but they lack the organization and heavy weapon

al-Qaeda extremists fester in the shadows. The opposition remains so fragmented that some rebels frankly admit they aren't ready to govern, even if Assad should fall. EFTA00718098 "We still need to find a leader," conceded one rebel commander. "We are headless inside the country." Rebel fighters s

ith al-Nusra, just as it has done EFTA00718099 with the even more extreme group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. A fighter from the Daraa region explained the simple reason his forces cooperate with al-Nusra: "They have a lot of support." This opportunistic alliance has to change; oth

s" in the Syrian city of Daraa "with government forces and former rebels clashing amid a wave of assassinations, revealing the difficulty President Bashar al-Assad faces in maintaining control over areas he says he has pacified." The Post says the violence in the city is "eroding the image Assad has tried to po

dent Bashar al-Assad faces in maintaining control over areas he says he has pacified." The Post says the violence in the city is "eroding the image Assad has tried to portray as he urges Syrians who fled the country to return home to government-controlled territory. He has promised that no harm will b

a-0dc6242c4814_story.html> (11/23, A 1 , Dadouch, 14.2M) reports on its front page that "violence has erupted in recent weeks" in the Syrian city of Daraa "with government forces and former rebels clashing amid a wave of assassinations, revealing the difficulty President Bashar al-Assad faces in maint

an city of Daraa "with government forces and former rebels EFTA00148763 clashing amid a wave of assassinations, revealing the difficulty President Bashar al-Assad faces in maintaining control over areas he says he has pacified." The Post says the violence in the city is "eroding the image Assad has tried to p

dent Bashar al-Assad faces in maintaining control over areas he says he has pacified." The Post says the violence in the city is "eroding the image Assad has tried to portray as he urges Syrians who fled the country to return home to government-controlled territory. He has promised that no harm will b

ontrol. The Washington Post (11/23, Al, Dadouch, 14.2M) reports on its front page that "violence has erupted in recent weeks" in the Syrian city of Daraa "with government forces and former rebels EFTA00148763 clashing amid a wave of assassinations, revealing the difficulty President Bashar al-Assad

monitors of committing massive atrocities against its civilian population. The Obama administration, backed by Western alies, accuses the regime of Bashar al-Assad of launching a large-scale chemical weapons attack on August 21 that mocked Obama's "red line" rhetoric and finally elicited a White House threat o

e its relevance in an age of WMD. On Syria, the president will likely cite the thorough UN inspectors report as providing indisputable evidence of Assad's use of chemical weapons (CW). Echoing the marker laid down by Secretary of State John Kerry, he will demand that the UNSC pass a robust resoluti

security or, perhaps, concealment. Sakat's most compelling information was his account of being ordered to use the toxic chemical phosgene in the Daraa area of southern Syria, a stronghold of rebel support, last year. The Syrian defector said that at the time he supervised chemical weapons for the

lims in Syria and throughout the region feel that Assad's Syria has unduly favored the Alawites, a sect o

e an obstacle to their ambitions. But nature abhors a vacuum, and what will come will be unpredictable, at best. The protests started in mid-March in Daraa, in southern Syria, a city that has suffered from drought and neglect by the government in Damascus. The heavy hand of the ruling Baath party was par

A government spokeswoman has hinted that coming reforms will include greater freedom for the press and the right to form political parties. President Bashar al-Assad is due to address the country in the next 48 hours. His speech is eagerly awaited, but it remains to be seen whether it will be enough to defuse the

llenged the fundamentals of Syria's security state, a harsh system of controls over every aspect of society, put in place by the late Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, who ruled for 30 years from 1970 to his death in 2000. By all accounts, the debate HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_030032 --- PAGE BREAK --- 4 about how

--- Article 2. Le Monde diplomatique Is This the End of the Assad Dynasty? Patrick Seale 2011-05-06 -- The disturbances started in mid-March in Daraa, a southern city on the border with Jordan, when a dozen children were manhandled, arrested and carried off to Damascus for scribbling hostile graffi

cal life and for that of the regime put in place in 1970 by his father, the late President Hafez al-Assad. Forty-one years in power The rule of the Assads, father and son, has now lasted 41 years, a score comparable to that of other long-lasting Arab autocrats, each apparently determined to be a préside

Arab autocrats, each apparently determined to be a président-a-vie. In no other part of the world have so many rulers clung so assiduously to power. Bashar appears genuinely to have believed that the Arab nationalist ideology he inherited, his opposition to Israel and his support for resistance movements

tly financed a London-based network of Bashar’s opponents to the tune of $12m between 2005 and 2010. A continuous whole It is probably fair to view Bashar al-Assad’s term of office and that of his father as a single continuous whole. Not only did Hafez al-Assad decide that Bashar should succeed him, but he also be