"The trouble today is very clear: even if Bashar [Assad, the president of Syria] wants to reform and to live up to the demands of the people and the expectations of the international community, he would not be allowed to due to the pressure of his brother Maher who is effectively controlling the elite divisions of the army," remarked a foreign diplomat who has recently visited Damascus.
According to this diplomat, "before we were suspecting the matter and cautiously talking about it, but now it has become an open secret to the extent the Turks are trying to convince Maher to go over to live in Turkey."
Maher has firmly declined all such proposals, according to this and other foreign diplomats who work in and on Syria. They add that he has gone as far as “making it clear” to Assad that there is a clear limit that the Syrian president cannot cross in inducing political reforms.
"The trouble is that for Maher the red line starts way ahead of the demands of the public; Bashar is really trapped," says a Western diplomat who follows the Syria developments.
This argument is corroborated by a report that the International Crisis Group (ICG) has just issued on the situation in Syria. ‘The Syrian regime's slow-motion suicide’ argues that the regime of Assad is walking its way to an inevitable end.
"Desperate to survive at all costs, Syria’s regime appears to be digging its grave," states the report that was issued in Brussels on Wednesday (yesterday).
While noting that unlike other Arab leaders who have been faced with the wrath of their peoples the regime of Assad enjoyed some popularity, the ICG report states that this popularity is wearing thin in the face of growing protests "that are getting stronger.",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,......................
