Excerpt
As Syria continues its most relentless assault yet on a five-month uprising, killing more than a dozen protesters Wednesday, cracks have begun to emerge in a tight-knit leadership that has until now managed to rally its base of support and maintain a unified front, officials, dissidents and analysts say.
Though there are no signs of an imminent collapse, flagging support of the business elite in Damascus, divisions among senior officials and even moves by former government stalwarts to distance themselves from the leadership come at a time when Syria also faces what may be its greatest isolation in more than four decades of rule by the Assad family.
“They’re starting to be divided, and you have people in the government who are really getting frustrated with Assad and his security circles,” an Obama administration official in Washington said, referring to President Bashar al-Assad.
“It’s almost like watching a dysfunctional marriage,” the official said.
The shifting constellation of power in Damascus has underscored the perils of the months ahead. American and European officials acknowledge that they have limited tools to influence events in Syria, and a deeply divided opposition has so far failed to provide an alternative to the leadership of Mr. Assad. Activists in Syria warn that the government crackdown may also push largely peaceful protesters to violence, especially in the east, which is populated by well-armed extended clans with deep ties to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.
“We are stuck right now,” said Louay Hussein, a leading opposition figure who has had conversations with government officials on trying to open the political system “The government is counting on its military, and it could take a very long time before it uses up all its resources.”
No comments:
Post a Comment