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Syria's Assad Is Confronting New Challenges
(Washington Post) Liz Sly and Asser Khattab - With the rebels now squeezed into one last corner of Syria, President Bashar al-Assad is confronting the biggest challenges to his hold on power since the start of the civil war nine years ago. Assad's first cousin Rami Makhlouf, who controls a network of companies including the Syriatel mobile phone network, has made it clear he won't willingly hand over more than $600 million the government says he owes in back taxes. The Makhloufs are an important family in the ruling Alawite sect. Their companies, charities and militias have provided livelihoods to tens of thousands of Syrians. Meanwhile, the Syrian currency has lost more than half its value in the past month, while prices of staples such as bread and sugar have doubled in the same period. The decline in Syria's currency has been accelerated by the dramatic slide of the Lebanese lira, because Syrian traders depend on banks in Lebanon to finance imports. Starting in June, tough new U.S. sanctions will go into effect targeting any individual or entity in the world that offers support to the Syrian regime.