Syrian President Assad Insists That He Will Not Step Down.

Assad Insists He Will Not Step Down -- Al Jazeera

In an interview, Syrian leader blames crisis on foreign intervention and warns against fractious opposition.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he will not resign before elections in 2014 and warned against the opposition, in an interview with an Argentine newspaper.

Assad also said that he blames foreign intervention for the crisis, and he cautiously welcomed a proposed international peace conference launched by the US and Russia.

Assad spoke to Clarin and the Argentine state news agency Telam in the frank and lengthy interview in Damascus, released on Saturday, in which he also denied that his government has used chemical weapons against the civilian population.

His comments come amid a rare joint push by the US and Russia to convene the peace conference in Geneva.

Read more ....

My Comment: US General Dempsey is correct .... Russian military support is only 'emboldening' Assad .... and it shows in the above video.

Update: Russian military aid to Syria: Burning questions and answers -- Haaretz

Syrian President Assad: West Will Pay For 'Supporting' al-Qaida Rebels

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (R) attends an interview with Syrian television channel al-Ikhbariya in Damascus, in this handout photograph from Syria's national news agency SANA, April 17, 2013.

Assad: West Will Pay for 'Supporting' al-Qaida Rebels -- Voice of America

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has warned the West that it will pay a "heavy price" for what he called its support of al-Qaida militants fighting a two-year campaign to overthrow his autocratic government.

Speaking to state-run TV station Al-Ikhbariya in a rare interview, Mr. Assad said the consequences of alleged Western support for al-Qaida will be felt in the "heart of Europe and the United States."

The interview was broadcast Wednesday to coincide with Syria's independence day. The Syrian president offered no proof of Washington and its allies giving assistance to al-Qaida.

Read more ....

More News On Syrian President Assad

Assad accuses West of backing al-Qaeda in Syria -- CBC/AP
Syria crisis: Bashar al-Assad says West will 'pay price' -- BBC
Assad says West will pay for backing al Qaeda in Syria -- Reuters
West will pay for 'supporting al-Qaeda in Syria', Assad warns -- The Telegraph
Syria's Assad says West will pay for 'supporting' Qaeda -- AFP
Assad says no choice but victory in Syrian war -- Reuters
Syria's Assad says departure would be 'people's decision' -- Global post/AFP
Assad says fire of Syria could spread to Jordan -- Global Post/AFP
Syria's Assad says conflict could spread to Jordan -- Reuters

BREAKING: Unconfirmed Reports That Syrian President Bashar Assad Has Been Assassinated

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. Reuters

Unconfirmed Reports Of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s Shooting Highlight Chaos In Country -- New York Daily News

Assad was supposedly shot by his Iranian bodyguard Saturday night, with at least one website saying he had been ‘assassinated.’ But other online updates by Arab and Israeli media say the report was untrue.

Online reports of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s death appeared greatly exaggerated Sunday.

Arab media said Assad was purportedly shot by one of his Iranian bodyguards Saturday night and was in serious condition.

He was supposedly taken to Al-Shami Hospital in Damascus, where surrounding roads were closed off.

Read more ....

More News On Unconfirmed Reports That Syrian President Bashar Assad Has Been Assassinated

France's Le Point Magazine: Rumor about Assad's Death Invades the Internet -- Naharnet
Bashar al-Assad was killed by a bodyguard ... (Arab media) -- JSS News
Sources close to Syria's president #Assad deny to RT rumors of his assassination -- RT
BREAKING: Assad Shot By Bodyguard – Hospitalized in Damascus -- Gateway Pundit
Assad Assassination Attempt Rumor Sweeps Across Globe -- Gather
Syrian Civil War:Does Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dead or just rumor / Syria Conflict News -- National Turk

My Comment: If this story was true .... it would be impossible to keep a lid on it .... we would all be knowing about it within a few hours. This is just wishful thinking among many in social media.

Asma Assad, Wife Of Syrian President, Appears In Public For The First Time In Months

Asma al-Assad, the wife of the president of Syria, Bashar, greeted by mainly young people during an event dubbed 'Mothers Rally' at the Opera House in Damascus. (AFP Photo / HO / Syrian Presidency Media Office)

President Assad's British-Born Wife Finally Breaks Cover To Prove She Hasn't Fled Syria -- Daily Mail

* Wife of President Assad had not been seen for months in Syria
* Rumours she had fled to safety with children after war reached Damascus
* President Assad's mother and sister believed to be in United Arab Emirates

Syria's First Lady made a public appearance for the first time in months at an event in Damascus - dispelling rumours that she had fled her war-torn nation to safety abroad.

British-born Asma Assad brought her two sons Hafez, 11, and Karim, eight, and her daughter Zein, nine, along to the Mothers of Martyrs event at the opera house in the capital, according to the President's office.

She greeted a crowd of women and children with Syrian flags painted on their faces at the charity event, in aid of the mothers of dead soldiers.

Read more ....

More News On Asma Assad, Wife Of Syrian President, Appearing In Public

Surrounded by children, Syria's first lady makes rare appearance -- CNN
Smiling Asma Assad reappears in Syria -- The Australian/The Times
No retreat: Asma Assad, wife of Syrian President, appears in public -- RT
Asma Assad shows her face, scotching escape rumours -- The Week
Asma Assad steps out of the shadows in Syria -- DNA

Where Is The Assad Family 'Hiding'?

The Assad Family: Where Are They Now? -- The Economist

A CAR bomb in Damascus on February 21st was the latest violence to hit the capital where many members of President Bashar Assad’s ruling cabal remain in place. Rebel forces have taken over villages and towns in the east and north of Syria and around Damascus, while Mr Assad's allies have consolidated their grip along the north-south axis from Damascus, through Homs and Hama, to the coastal area around the port of Latakia. Power is concentrated within an ever smaller circle: the Assad family, the Makhloufs—Mr Assad’s mother's relatives—and a handful of security chiefs. Defections have mostly been from the lower ranks of the army and government, both largely powerless. Some family members have left the country but those left are believed to be hunkering down on and around Mount Qassioun in Damascus, in heavily fortified palaces which they can more easily defend and from whose heights they can shell the areas around them.

Read more ....

My Comment: After 70,000 killed, tens of thousands wounded, hundreds of thousands (if not millions) destitute .... the hatred towards this family must be incredibly intense. The top members of this family now have only two destinies to follow .... (1) be heavily protected by scores of bodyguards in Syria or in another country for the rest of their lives, or (2) death.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Office Tries To Deny Rumors That His Wife Is Pregnant

Screenshot: The Washington Post

Assad’s Office Posts Pictures Of His Wife Looking Decidedly Not Pregnant -- Washington Post

The office of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has posted photographs of his wife Asma that suggest she is definitely not pregnant, contrary to rumors that have been circulating for months.

The five pictures posted on the Facebook page of the president’s media office were supposedly taken in Damascus on Jan. 22 and show a slender-looking Asma greeting Syrian students at a scientific competition. Though their date and location cannot be independently confirmed, they represent the strongest official attempt yet to deny the rumored pregnancy.

Read more ....

My Comment: This photo is all wrong. There are trees in the picture and the people in it are dressed for fall. It is winter in Syria right now.

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s British-Born Wife Is Pregnant

Revelations: Emails show that the First Lady, left, who married Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, right, in 2000, was kept up to date on how the furniture was being laid out in the palace

Baby Born Into A Bloodbath: President Assad's British-Born Wife Asma, 37, Said To Be PREGNANT With Her Fourth Child -- Daily Mail

* Asma al-Assad, 37, reported to be pregnant by Beirut-based newspaper
* Mother-of-three rarely seen in public, making claims hard to substantiate
* Comes as opposition activists report bodies of at least 65 males executed in a river in Aleppo

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s British-born wife is pregnant, according to reports.

The dictator is said to have told mysteriously anonymous Arab 'visitors' to Syria, who passed it on to Beirut newspaper al-Akhbar, generally regarded as sympathetic to his regime.

The London-born mother of three, Asma Assad, 37, once described by Vogue magazine as a ‘rose in the desert’, has not been seen in public in recent months, making the claim hard to substantiate.

Efforts by MailOnline to confirm the report with her father Dr Fawaz Akhras, a Cromwell Hospital and Harley Street cardiologist failed.

Read more ....

More News On Reports That Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s British-Born Wife Is Pregnant

Syria President’s Wife Pregnant, Lebanese Newspaper Says -- The Lede/New York Times
Wife of Syrian president is pregnant: Lebanese newspaper -- Al Arabiya
Report: Syria President Assad announces wife Asma is pregnant -- NBC News
Assad's wife pregnant with 4th child -- UPI
Report: Syrian President Assad’s wife Asma is pregnant -- Washington Times
Syria: Asma al-Assad 'pregnant with fourth child' -- The Telegraph
Asma Assad Pregnant? Bashar Assad's Wife Expecting Fourth Child, Lebanese Website Reports -- Huffington Post

My Comment: To the millions of Syrian families suffering right now .... this news will only raise their blood pressure.

Is Syria’s Bashar al-Assad's Wife Pregnant?

Asma al-Assad, with her husband, Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad. A cache of emails appeared to show she embarked on a luxury online shopping spree during a brutal crackdown by her husband's regime. Photograph: Yves Herman/REUTERS

Syria’s Bashar al-Assad Says His Wife Is Pregnant -- Washington Post

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose regime is embroiled in a now two-year civil war that has killed tens of thousands, gave a cheery interview to unnamed “visitors,” as reported by a sympathetic newspaper, in which he offhandedly revealed that his wife is pregnant. Asma al-Assad, the 37-year-old, British-born young mother of three (now four?), was warmly profiled in Vogue’s February 2011 issue for her style and flair; shortly after, she was placed under severe economic sanctions by the European Union for her role in state abuses.

Bashar al-Assad let the news slip in a recent talk with mysteriously anonymous “visitors,” who relayed his comments to the Beirut-based al-Akhbar newspaper, an aggressive outlet often described as aligned with such anti-Western movements as Hezbollah.

Read more ....

My Comment: While he is busy burning Syria down to the ground .... he has time to become a father .... talk about being completely out of touch on what is happening on the ground in Syria. At least I now know why Asma al-Assad has gone into hiding this past year.

Saudi Newspaper: Syrian President Assad And His Family Are Now Living On A Warship In The Mediterranean Sea Protected By Russian Security Personnel

Russian warship sent to Mediterranean in July. Wikimedia

Report Says Assad Residing On Warship -- UPI

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Syrian President Bashar Assad and his family have been living on a warship, with security provided by Russia, intelligence sources told a Saudi newspaper.

An Al-Watan report Monday says the family and Assad aides are residing on the ship in the Mediterranean Sea and that he travels to Syria by helicopter to attend official meetings and receptions.

Otherwise, he stays on the warship, the sources told the Arabic language newspaper.

Read more ....

More News On Reports That Assad And His family Are Now Living on A Warship in the Mediterranean

REPORT: Assad Has Left Syria For A Warship In The Mediterranean -- Business Insider
Assad and family said to be living on a warship -- Times of Israel
Assad 'Living on Warship' -- Arutz Sheva
Report: Bashar al-Assad Living on a Warship in Mediterranean, Being Provided Security by Russia -- Algemeiner
Report: Assad relocated family to ship off Syria coast -- Jerusalem Post
Report: Assad on warship with Russian security -- YNet News

My Comment: For the past 8-10 months I have noticed that Assad's family has disappeared from public view (not surprisingly in view of the carnage that is happening in the country). Where are they? And more to the point .... where has Assad been hiding as the Syrian civil war rages .... a question that this report appears to answer. As to the Russian security angle .... interestingly .... according to independent Russian media outlets and bloggers (I speak Russian), Russian government officials have avoided answering the question when asked.

Syrian President Assad Still Believes That He Can Control The Country

Assad Still Confident That He Can Control Syria -- Washington Post

BEIRUT — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remains confident that he can ride out the maelstrom engulfing his country, casting into doubt prospects that intensified efforts to negotiate an end to the bloodshed can succeed, according to Syrians familiar with the thinking of the regime.

Although Assad isn’t winning the fight against the rebels, he isn’t losing, either — at least not yet, or by enough of a margin to make him feel he needs to abandon his efforts to crush the rebellion by force and embark on negotiations that would end his hold on power and expose his loyalists to the threat of revenge, the Syrians and analysts say.

Read more ....

My Comment: If this is what he is thinking .... he has clearly lost touch with what is happening on the ground.

Dead Man Walking

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad

Bashar Assad: Dead Man Walking -- Douglas Bloomfield, Jerusalem Post

Washington Watch: Syrian strongman Bashar Assad has only himself to blame as he heads for history’s garbage heap.

Syrian strongman Bashar Assad has only himself to blame as he heads for history’s garbage heap.

The British-educated eye doctor came to office among high hopes that he meant what he said about political, economic and social reform to bring his country into the 21st century. At home and abroad he’d been nicknamed “The Hope.”

A more appropriate moniker would have been “The Disappointment” or “The Disaster.” He quickly fell under the influence of his father’s old guard and succumbed to fear that reform was a sign of weakness his enemies could pounce upon. He lacked the leadership, political cunning and ability of his father, but successfully emulated the worst of his father’s attributes – brutality, repression and corruption.

Read more ....

My Comment: Could not have said it any better.

Has The Sister Of Syrian President Assad Fled The Country?

Following the death of her husband Assef Shawqat (R), who was also the former head of the Syrian Military Intelligence, Bushra al-Assad grew more worried about her and her children’s safety. (AFP)

Assad’s Sister Defects Amid ‘Disputes’ Between Ruling Alawites: Source -- Al Arabiya

Bushra al-Assad, the sister of the embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has fled Syria with her children, weeks after her husband and 'guaranteed' protector Assef Shawqat, who was the deputy chief of staff of the Syrian Armed Forces, was killed by the opposition forces in July 18, 2012, an informed source told Al Arabiya English on Tuesday.

Opposition website www.All4Syria.info reported on Sunday that Bushra had left Syria to Dubai, where she enrolled her children at school. The website, which is owned by opposition figure Ayman Abdulnoor, reported that Bushra had previously lived in the UAE during a brief rift with her brother, Bashar.

Read more ....

My Comment: If she felt safe .... she and her children would be staying in Damascus. But it is clear that she does not feel safe .... and considering what happened to her husband as well as probably knowing the internal politics of Syria's ruling elite .... she is probably right to flee the country.

Syrian President Assad Says He Needs More Time To Win War

Assad Says He Needs More Time To Win War As Refugees Overwhelm Turkey, Jordan -- Christian Science Monitor

The waves of Syrian refugees seeking haven in Turkey and Jordan are testing the two countries, putting the oft-discussed idea of creating a 'safe zone' in Syria back on the table.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he is “fighting a battle both regionally and internationally,” and his government needs more time to defeat rebel forces.

Mr. Assad's comments, made in an interview with pro-government al-Dunya TV, coincided with a renewed government effort to regain control of rebel-held areas in northern Syria and renewed interest in the international community in creating a "safe zone" inside Syria.

Read more ....

More News On Syrian President Assad's Comments On Needing More Time To Win War

Syria Needs ‘Time’ in Battle Against Rebels, Assad Says -- New York Times
Assad Calls for More Time to Defeat Opposition -- Wall Street Journal
Bashar Assad: Fight against Syria rebels "better," gov't forces "moving forward" -- CBS/AP
Bashar al-Assad says there is no end in sight to Syrian civil war -- The Guardian
Syria's Assad: Government Facing 'Global Battle' -- Voice of America
Syria crisis: Assad 'needs time to win battle' -- BBC

A Viewpoint From One Who Knew Syrian President Bashar Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Reuters

The Bashar al-Assad I Know -- David Lesch, CNN

High expectations are both a blessing and a curse. They are the former in that usually something worthwhile about someone has raised the expectations in the first place. They are the latter when someone fails to meet those expectations. Heightened, maybe even unwarranted, expectations were a serious problem for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from the very beginning of his rise to power in 2000 following the death of his father, Hafiz al-Assad.

As I noted in Middle East Policy Council a couple of years back, I half jokingly told Bashar the first time we met in 2004 that I thought he had made a mistake in letting the media know that he enjoyed Phil Collins’ music. This anecdote fed into an emerging narrative of the relatively unknown al-Assad that he was a pro-West modernizer who was very different from his father. Indeed, Bashar was also the chairman of the Syrian Computer Society and was actually a bit of a geek himself.

Read more ....

My Comment: Power and all of it's attractions have changed Bashar Assad .... and unfortunately for Syria .... they are now paying the price.

The Bashar al-Assad Family Photos

Bashar al-Assad celebrating the second birthday of one of their children with wife Asma Assad Photo: CAMERA PRESS

Family Photo Album Gives Insight Into Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Private Life -- The Telegraph

Some believe that Bashar and Asma al-Assad are hiding in a bunker deep beneath Damascus, others that the Syrian president and his wife have relocated to a heavily protected palace in the loyalist city of Latakia.

And last week the country was rife with rumours that Mrs Assad herself had fled to Moscow with the couple's three children, soon after the bombing that claimed the lives of four senior regime officials including her husband's brother-in-law, leaving Mr Assad to run the country without her.

Read more ....

My Comment: The old saying .... "the rich live differently from you and I" .... does not even come close to describing how the Assad family lives in Syria .... especially now.

A Look At The Assad Family And Their Rule Of Syria

The Assad family before 1994. Front: Hafez al-Assad and his wife, Anisa Makhlouf. Rear, left to right: Maher, Bashar, Basil, Majid, and Bushra al-Assad. Wikipedia

In The Picture: The Assad Circle Of Power -- Financial Times

Closer and closer. As a symbol of the Syrian opposition’s determination to destroy the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, Wednesday’s killing of at least three of his most senior officials – including his brother-in-law – is a potent one; reprisals have reportedly already begun. How the attack took place has yet to be confirmed, but its effectiveness points to cracks in security that must terrify Assad loyalists. High quality global journalism requires investment. Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, tweeted: “Death of top #Syria security chiefs in Damascus marks turning point. Lifespan of regime counted in months; maybe now in weeks or days..” Others are less sure; the Assad family have thus far proved resilient. But who are the personalities that make up Bashar’s inner circle, and how long will they continue to stand by his side?

Read more ....

My Comment: A good summary of the family, and their rule of Syria.

Where Is Bashar Assad?

Photo: Syrian President Bashar Assad during an interview with a Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet in Damascus on July 3. Credit: Syrian Arab News Agency

Where Is Bashar Assad? Silence After Bombing Fuels Rumors -- L.A. Times

In the wake of a bombing attack that killed at least three senior Syrian officials, the silence of President Bashar Assad spurred furious speculation over his whereabouts and whether the embattled Syrian leader had himself been wounded in the bombing.

The Wednesday blast struck a meeting of Cabinet and security officials, killing top officials such as the defense minister and his deputy, a brother-in-law of Assad.

Read more ....

My Comment: To have such a group of top Syrian military and security officials killed together tells me that this had to be an inside job .... and it is probably with this mindset that the security officials around Bashar Assad made the decision to keep his location secret until their investigation on who was responsible for this attack was completed .... as well as determining if others were involved.

Syrian President Assad Hints That He Is Willing To Step Aside

Assad told Cumhuriyet that Turkish PM Recep Erdogan's sectarianism strained the two leaders' relations [Reuters]

Facing Diplomatic Isolation, Syria’s Assad Says He’s Willing To Step Aside -- McClatchy News

ISTANBUL — After losing his most important supporters outside Syria, President Bashar al Assad said his office “doesn’t mean anything to me” and he’s willing to give up it up, though preferably after national elections.

“If the president’s departure is in the interest of Syria, the president should naturally go. This is self-evident,” he told the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet. “You should never stay in office one day if the people do not want you; and the elections are the means through which the people show whether they want you or not.”

Read more ....

My Comment: I am very skeptical that he is sincere in "stepping aside". To begin with .... where would he go? He cannot stay in Syria .... too much blood has already been shed. If there is a country that will accept him .... it will probably be Iran .... but and I suspect that they would be doing it reluctantly. On top of that .... I doubt that his wife would entertain the idea of spending the rest of her life living in some Iranian version of a burka.This is a fight to the finish .... and it will end when Assad is either killed .... or he takes that last plane out of Damascus to Iran.

Vogue Scrubs From The Web It's 'Puff Piece' On Asma al-Assad

A rose in the desert? Vogue's Joan Juliet Buck wrote a gushing feature about the Syrian First Lady that was published just as the president began his brutal crackdown, and weeks later the article vanished from the web. Daily Mail

Vogue Article On ‘Glamorous’ Wife Of Syrian Dictator Scrubbed From The Web -- Toronto Star/Washington Post

It may have been the worst-timed, and most tin-eared, magazine article in decades.

“Asma al-Assad is glamorous, young, and very chic — the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies,” writer Joan Juliet Buck began her profile of Syria’s first lady in Vogue last year. Amid descriptions of Assad’s “energetic grace” and Christian Laboutin shoes, Buck wrote: “The 35-year-old first lady’s central mission is to change the mind-set of six million Syrians under eighteen, encourage them to engage in what she calls ‘active citizenship.’ “

Read more ....

Update #1: Vogue profile of Syrian leader's wife disappears -- AFP
Update #2: Writer of embarrassing Vogue article that praised wife of Syrian dictator confesses 'horror' at having been near them -- Daily Mail
Update #3: A look at Syria’s first lady (Photo Gallery) -- Washington Post

My Comment: Beauty and style on the outside .... evil and ugliness in the inside.

Wife Of Syrian Dictator Added To Sanctions List

Asma al-Assad

Syria: Asma al-Assad To Be Added To EU Sanctions List For Shopping Sprees -- The Telegraph

Asma al-Assad, the British-born wife of the Syrian president, will be added to a European Union sanctions blacklist later this week after details of her online shopping sprees were revealed by leaked emails, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

The 36-year-old former investment banker and other relatives of regime members will join 114 Syrians – topped by her husband Bashar – and 38 organisations subject to freezes on their assets and bank accounts in EU member states.

European diplomats said the decision to add Mrs Assad to the list would be taken on Friday at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

"A number of family members will be added to the list," said a diplomatic source.

EU and British officials have faith that the move will add to the "stranglehold" on the regime, though it has survived 11 previous rounds of sanctions.

Read more ....

My Comment: Putting her on this sanctions list will be pointless ... and I do not think she even cares. She will only have someone else .... in another name .... buy the stuff that she wants.