(Jerusalem Report) Ehud Ya'ari - Three years after becoming president, Dr. Bashar Assad is perceived by all those around him as an awkward disappointment. The London-trained ophthalmologist has turned out to be a young conservative, entrenched in the thinking of past generations and the language of pan-Arabism which completed its time on earth some 30 years ago. The lesson from Iraq is that any regime not anchored in popular support is liable to be easily uprooted. And the Syrians are aware of just how similar their model is to the one that was wiped out in neighboring Iraq.
2003-07-31 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive