Epstein Secrets

of his broader reform effort. That's still said to be on Assad's agenda. EFTA00708200 The Assad clan also has military power that could obstruct Bashar's reformist moves. His brother Maher, for example, commands a tough unit of Syrian special forces, and his brother-in-law Assaf Shaukat has been a s

Syrian special forces, and his brother-in-law Assaf Shaukat has been a senior intelligence official. It's anyone's guess, at this point, whether the Assads will remain united behind Bashar or fall into a bloody internal fued, but so far Bashar has proved the master of the situation. Syria had been rela

in recent months have said they believe he's a reformer." Thus did Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton respond to a question on Sunday about Bashar al-Assad, the latest Arab dictator to respond with fusillades to calls by his people for democratic change. At the time she spoke, more than 60 Syrians had a

l about 10 days ago, when thousands of protesters in the southern city of Deraa took to the streets to protest the killings of several youths there. Deraa is a tribal city, and the clans united in their anger against the provincial governor, Faisal Kalthoum, and his chief of security. Security forces

on. Syria had been relatively stable compared with its Arab neighbors until about 10 days ago, when thousands of protesters in the southern city of Deraa took to the streets to protest the killings of several youths there. Deraa is a tribal city, and the clans united in their anger against the provinc

e of the facts on the ground suggest so. With more than 350 killed so far, November has been the bloodiest month since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began last spring. Defections from the army, which started as a trickle, now look like a torrent. In October, the number was around 800. The best tot

A attacked the headquarters of the Air Force Intelligence Agency at Harasta near the capital Damascus. Since Hafez al-Assad, an air-force officer and Bashar's father, seized power in a coup in 1970, the AIA has been the nerve center of the regime's security system. Also this week, reports surfaced of atta

the "shadow army," as Syrians call it, seems to be planning more spectacular operations. On Monday, the FSA claimed an attack on an army convoy near Deraa, the southwestern town where the revolution started. Official accounts reported at least 34 soldiers killed. Yesterday, the FSA attacked the headquar

cent of the population. Thus, Syria's is a nationwide revolution against a minority regime. Almost all Syrians agree that the situation is untenable. Assad's policy of rule by massacre has few supporters outside his clan. Judging by the revolution's most popular slogan — "Assad Get Out!" — a majority may

oratory, you couldn't have done much better. Syria presents a profoundly different situation. U.S. policy has always been driven by the hope that the Assads would change and the fear of what might replace them if they fell. Three additional realities ensured a U.S. response quite different from the one fo

ng different. There simply is no reform option, and there never was. Genuine reform means dislodging the bricks holding up Assad- Makhlouf authority. Bashar Assad's open-ended presidency, the crony capitalism practiced by his cousin and other members of Syria's elite, the abuse practiced by the all-powerful secur

t, slim chance for a peaceful way forward. Over seven hundred people have been killed so far, more than a hundred of them in the southwestern city of Deraa, near the Jordanian border, where the Omari mosquea center of resistance-has been closed to worshipers after being shelled by tanks and taken over by