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Assad an Enemy of Change
(Telegraph-UK) Loveday Morris - In a brief speech bereft of conciliatory gestures, Syrian President Assad dismissed protesters as conspirators in the pay of foreign powers, and hinted that Israel was the principal plotter. Unlike other Arab autocrats who sought to appease protesters with concessions, Assad was essentially inviting his opponents to a showdown. Hillary Clinton, the U.S. secretary of state, continued to persist with the line that the Syrian president's hands were tied by hardliners within the regime. But former senior Syrian officials and even members of Assad's family have told the Sunday Telegraph that this perception is a fallacy deliberately fostered by the regime and that, in fact, the president is one of the main enemies of change. "Some forces want to make people believe that he is a puppet. It's a lie just to keep him pure," said one official. "Essentially the family are of one mind," said a former official with close links to the Assad family.