Report: Syria rebels kill Assad’s Defense Minister, brother-in-law near Damascus
Al-Jazeera cites rebel leaders as saying that Free Syrian Army special forces kill Defense Minister Rajiha and former head of military intelligence Assef Shawkat; Syria TV says alleged casualties officials call in to deny report.
By Anshel Pfeffer, HAARETZ
Syrian opposition forces have killed several top officials in President Bashar Assad’s regime, rebel leaders reported on Sunday. Among the dead, according to the rebels, were Assad’s brother-in-law Assef Shawkat and Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha.
According to an al-Jazeera report, Free Syrian Army special forces also killed former Defense Minister Hasan Turkmani in an overnight operation near Damascus.
The report could not yet be confirmed, with a rebel spokesperson saying proof would be revealed in the coming hours. Syrian state television denied the report.
Felix,
I can assure you, as you already know, that Ted is no fan of Obama. If you don’t think Assad is going down, you simply can’t read the writing on the wall. Assad is opposed by NATO and its Gulf Cooperation Council and Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaeda allies, while he is backed by Iran and Russia. Even Lebanon is siding with NATO. All the Western Powers need to do, to completely isolate Syria, is to put a naval blockade in place. In a head-on confrontation, I don’t think the Russians will risk everything for the sake of an unpopular dictator; and Iran is too weak to make a difference. After Obama wins the election, I expect him to go whole-hog in support of the Muslim Brotherhood — in Syria as well as elsewhere — as long as the MB confines its immediate objectives to opposing Israel, taking over Arab governments and leaving the GCC alone. I assume the NATO planners assume that once the Brotherhood is actually in POWER, they will become as hated as the Taliban were in Afghanistan; and being in power will make them infinitely more corruptible and malleable in Western hands.
I am no fan of Obama, but I know how to do math: No matter how much the recent “upsurge” for Romney is in the polls, his numbers are essentially unchanged in critical states like Virginia, Ohio, Iowa and Colorado; and he has a war chest twice as big as Romney’s. The Republicans might get control of Congress; but Congress doesn’t conduct foreign policy. Those are the cards we’re being dealt; and I’d rather try to play a bad hand well, than imagine I have a good hand when I don’t.
Ted
Are you a fan really of Obama with that headline
I have been fighting for months, with no acknowledgement from Israpundit, to defend Assad on a principled basis
There is no end to the depths that Israpundit will not sink to
It means all the talk of defending Israel etc. by Israpundit is so much nonsence. It does not. It can not.
If and when Assad is eliminated–it will be like Egypt–the Nazi Muslim Brotherhood will take over and it will be far worse for the people–especially Christians and Jews!
I could not have said it better.
Believe it or not; Assad is the lesser of (2) two evils.
A secular Syria is better than a Salafist Syria.
What is amazing is how violent an Arab regime has to be in order to enforce secularism.
And even “secularist” Baath regimes still required a President to be Muslim, because they knew they could push secularism only so far.
The Assad regime’s ruthlessness is why it will remain in power.
Its opponents can’t change the balance of power – the conflict can drag on for decades but no conflict that involves a zero sum outcome has ever resulted in a peaceful settlement being born.
This is a reminder of why the regime won’t compromise. If it begins making concessions, its doomed. The Syrian elite have only to look at what happened in Egypt and Libya to understand its a question of kill or be killed.
There is no end in sight to the bloodshed for the foreseeable future.