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Syrian Rebels Tried to Kill Assad's Top Aides, Israeli Officials Confirm
(Ha'aretz) Barak Ravid - Israel has reliable information showing that an attempt was made to assassinate several top Assad regime officials four days ago in Syria, senior Israeli officials said on Thursday. Syrian President Bashar Assad's brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, and several other senior officials were indeed poisoned, but prompt medical treatment saved their lives. "The Syrian revolt is no longer in faraway cities; it's reached the leaders of the regime," one senior Israeli official said. "An assassination on a similar scale in the future could accelerate the regime's collapse. The opposition has the tools to reach the heads of Assad's regime, and in this case, it's been proven." Israeli officials said the poisoning was carried out by the Free Syrian Army's Al-Sahaba battalion. The targets included Mohammed Said Bakhtian, national secretary of the Baath Party, whose bodyguard poisoned the food served to senior regime officials during a meeting of the "crisis management cell," charged with managing the ongoing fighting in Syria.