Epstein Secrets

ition. Assad still talks of his desire for new reform laws. But U.S. officials say he has supported (or acceded to) hard-liners led by his brother Maher, who is commander of the Republican Guard, and Hafez Makhlouf, a cousin who heads other security forces. The Syrian equation is shaped by two "X-fa

Syria, believes that the Syrian recognition of the Palestinian state today means that the al- Assad regime may give up the idea of custody over the Levant, i.e. Lebanon and Palestine, especially as Damascus also previously prevented Lebanon from recognizing the Palestinian state. The Syrian recogniti

ition. Assad still talks of his desire for new reform laws. But U.S. officials say he has supported (or acceded to) hard-liners led by his brother Maher, who is commander of the Republican Guard, and Hafez Makhlouf, a cousin who heads other security forces. The Syrian equation is shaped by two "X-fa

Syria, believes that the Syrian recognition of the Palestinian state today means that the al- Assad regime may give up the idea of custody over the Levant, i.e. Lebanon and Palestine, especially as Damascus also previously prevented Lebanon from recognizing the Palestinian state. The Syrian recogniti

She doubtless needed a green light to go ahead with the interview, one that required some measure of approval by Makhlouf and Assad's younger brother Maher, both of whom have taken an eradication approach to the protests. Makhlouf, in turn, needed no authorization whatsoever. What Shaaban said was likely

, nationalism, and socialism. Ibn Khaldun's analysis was based on his native North Africa, but it can be adapted to the conditions of the Mashreq, or Levant-where similar historical conditions prevailed. As Albert Hourani explained in his magisterial History of the Arab Peoples (1991), 'asabiyya is a forc