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

n their faces was wiped off, however, by bloody events that took place on Friday, March 25. Violent demonstrations broke out in the midland city of Horns, in the coastal city of Latakia, and in Sanamein, near Daraa, where 12 people were killed (10 of them from the Syrian security forces). Overall est

with Secretary of State John Kerry here this week, the =ussian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, hinted that Moscow might finally pressure President Bashir al-Assad of Syria to l=ave office. 2 EFTA_R1_00107015 EFTA01785153 "We are not interested in the fate =f certain individuals," Mr. Lavrov said at a late

y furt=er. Jerusalem, ultimately, has little interest in actively hastening the f=ll of Bashar al-Assad. Israel knows one important thin= about the Assads: for the past 40 years, they have managed to preserve so=e form of calm along the border. Technically, the two countries have always been at war --

e, the Alawite regime in Damascus and Hezbol=ah in Lebanon) is hell-bent on robbing them of their historic place in Iraq, their government's tilt to=ard Bashar al-Assad provided it. 5 EFTA_R1_00107018 EFTA01785156 It was a matter of time before =hese millennial conflicts were given new life by the Syrian civil w

untries have always been at war -- Syria has yet to officially r=cognize Israel -- but Israel has been able to count on the governments of =afez and Bashar Assad to enforce the Separation of Forces Agreement from 1=74, in which both sides agreed to a cease-fire in the Golan Heights, the disputed vantage poin

is the country's s=cond-largest city. But Tripoli, staunchly Sunni, with an Alawite minority, has always been within the orbit of the S=rian city of Horns. So it is no mystery that a deadly conflict now rages in=Tripoli between Sunni and Alawite neighborhoods, rendering the place ungov=rnable. Sunni j

forces desecrating mosques, firing at EFTA_R1_00234074 EFTA01845128 worshipers, and ordering hapless captives to proclaim, "There is no God but Bashar," has written its own regional banishment. Hafez committed cruelties of his own, but he always managed to remain within the Arab fold. Bashar is di

t outgrew the Arabian Peninsula and before it slipped out of the hands of the Arabs into those of the Persians and the Turks. Yet decades earlier, Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafez -- a man of supreme cunning and political skill -- had ridden the military and the Baath Party to absolute power, creating a regime i

ns a chance. The Egyptian rulers had said that their country was not Tunisia. Qaddafi said that his republic was not Tunisia or Egypt. Eventually, Assad was saying that Syria was not Tunisia, Egypt, or Libya. Assad was young, not old; his regime had more legitimacy because it had confronted Israel r

s and the mountain villages and coastal towns that make up the Alawite strongholds. The violence in the Syrian uprising has been most pronounced in Horns, the country's third-largest city, because of its explosive demographics -- two-thirds Sunni, one-quarter Alawite, one- tenth Christian. Sectarian

squirm and hope to be delivered from any meaningful burdens. Still, they are meeting Friday in Tunis to discuss their options. But Syrian dictator Bashar al- Assad needn't worry. The Tunisian hosts themselves proclaimed that this convocation held on their soil precluded a decision in favor of foreign

he Syrian Regime. The former, a large group—the United States, the Europeans and the bulk of Arab governments—is casting about for a way to end the Assad regime's assault on its own people. In their ranks there is irresolution and endless talk about the complications and the uniqueness of the Syrian

The absolute priority within no-kill zones would be public safety and humanitarian aid; revenge attacks would not be tolerated. Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, is increasingly depending on government-sponsored gangs and on shelling cities with heavy artillery rather than overrunning them with troops, prec

ange of groups opposing Mr. Assad, the council has yet to seriously address melding itself with the increasingly independent internal alliances in Horns and other cities across Syria trapped in an uneven battle for survival, they said, warning that the council runs the risk of being supplanted. "Th

program, and now, as a result of November's interim agreement in Geneva, it does not even fear international economic sanctions. Neither the Bashar Assad regime nor Al Qaeda terrorists in Syria see any prospect of material U.S. intervention. And the main pressure being applied in the Israeli- Palestin

eapons program, and now, as a result of November's interim agreement in Geneva, it does not even fear international economic sanctions. Neither the Bashar Assad regime nor Al Qaeda terrorists in Syria see any prospect of material U.S. intervention. And the main pressure being applied in the Israeli- P

suggests that things are so bad Barack Obama has asked for "options." Three years into the war and the president wants a plan. In all probability, Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian dictator, is not cowed by Obama threatening options. He continues to bomb his own people — barrel bombs, cluster bombs — and starve reca

rican intelligence official, said the Assad government was using Russian-supplied Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters to carry out the barrel-bomb attack in Horns. Russia, he said, is most likely providing spare parts such as engines, transmissions and rotors, which may explain Mr. Kerry's specific reference

. Then, after Syrians rebelled against Bashar al-Assad, the Islamic State expanded across Iraq's western

tion's inattention allowed Iraq's Shia prime minister, Nuri al-Malild, to intensify his persecution of Sunnis. Then, after Syrians rebelled against Bashar al-Assad, the Islamic State expanded across Iraq's western border into Syria, later renaming itself the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Significantly, when

north of Damascus on the Orontes River and was the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean coast. Previous to the Syrian war, Horns was a major industrial center, and with a population of at least 652,609 people in 2004, it was the third largest city in Syria after Aleppo to the

ge P. Shultz Article 2. The Daily Beast Memo to Netanyahu: It's Time to Build an Arsenal of Awe Lloyd Green Article 3. Washington Post Ousting Assad may be only the beginning David Ignatius Article 4. Al-Monitor Allen mission key to Israeli-Palestinian security talks Geoffrey Aronson Article

ree to confidence-building measures such as a humanitarian relief corridor to besieged areas. Idriss didn't demand as a precondition that President Bashar al-Assad resign before negotiations begin. Instead, he said, Assad's departure should come "at the end of negotiations." This position was echoed by Monzer

ho face the threat of starvation this winter. Negotiations have focused on providing supplies to civilians trapped in three areas: the old city of Horns, in central Syria; the town of Darayya, about six miles southwest of Damascus; and the town of Moadamiyeh, about eight miles southwest of the capit

alks with Syria of which doubtless the president is proud and unrepentant. Oops! As of last week, the president and Hillary Clinton no longer think Assad possesses legitimacy.) EFTA_R1_02034290 EFTA02691776 13 Each for their own geographical interests, five Arab states began a war on May 14, 194

nd without triggering sectarian massacres inside the country. For months, as protests mounted in Syria, President Obama waited to see if President Bashar al-Assad could deliver on his talk of reform. Last week, the administration all but gave up on him and switched gears — and began working actively for a tra

nority. The latest grim warning came on Sunday and Monday, when the United States estimates that 15 to 30 Syrians were killed in ethnic fighting in Horns. A White House official called those reports "really worrisome." The strategic stakes are high in Syria partly because Assad is allying himself ev

ary 29, 2012 -- A popular Washington illusion once held that the right combination of incentives and punishments might "peel off" Syria's President Bashar al-Assad from Iran's "Axis of Resistance," but nobody would have predicted that the weak link in Iran's alliance of radicals would turn out to be the Pales

, democracy and reform." Iran, Hamas knows, is not amused. But that appears to be a diminishing concern for the movement. Hamas' relationship with Assad, Tehran's key Arab ally, began to sour last year when the Palestinian group resisted pressure to stage pro-regime events in refugee camps in Syria.

dia showed staged footage of arms being found in a mosque in Dara'a, the southern city where protests first broke out, and warned that a sit-in in Horns ... was an attempt to erect a mini-caliphate. This manipulation of Syrians meant the regime was confident that the threat of civil war would force

ty to get in the way of "this narrative" by arguing that external intervention would be disastrous, are roundly condemned as complicit in President Assad's crimes against humanity. This school of journalism - the Guardian and Channel Four are good examples of this "I-was-there" reporting - that empha

March 3 saying that he had received "grisly reports" that Syrian government forces were arbitrarily executing, imprisoning and torturing people in Horns after retaking control of the Baba Amr district from insurgents. Did he really believe this; or was he just "saying it"? "One of the defining bifu