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Reviled Tycoon, Assad's Cousin, Resigns in Syria
(New York Times) Anthony Shadid - Syria's most powerful businessman, Rami Makhlouf, a confidant and cousin of President Bashar al-Assad who has emerged as a lightning rod in the three-month uprising, announced on Thursday that he was quitting business and moving to charity work, Syrian television said. For the first time since the uprising began, analysts said, a figure deemed a pillar of the leadership was forced to at least publicly step aside. "Makhlouf is a symbol of the corruption in the regime," said Bassam Haddad, director of the Middle East Studies Program at George Mason University. But "the decision has come too late, and it's not going to be accepted seriously by protesters." The U.S. imposed sanctions on Makhlouf in 2008, accusing him of manipulating the judicial system and using Syrian intelligence to intimidate rivals.