Assad is losing his grip, says Israeli DM

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Syrian security forces swept into the coastal city of Banias on Tuesday, a protest leader said, taking control of another urban centre from demonstrators challenging the authoritarian rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

“They moved into the main market area. The army has sealed the northern entrance and security forces (sealed) the south,” Anas al-Shughri told Reuters.

“They armed Alawite villages in the hills overlooking Banias and we are now facing militias from the east,” he said.

Assad, a member of the minority Alawite sect whose family has ruled majority Sunni Muslim Syria for 41 years, is pursuing a violent crackdown on six weeks of protests which began with demands for greater freedoms and now seek his overthrow.

Last week he sent tanks and soldiers into the southern city of Deraa, where the uprising broke out on March 18. Syrian rights groups say more than 560 civilians have been killed by security forces since the start of the unrest.

Activists said arrests continued across Syria on Tuesday. Speaking from Egypt, Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organisation of Human Rights in Syria, said the latest wave of detentions had snared more than 1,000 people.

International condemnation of the crackdown has intensified since the Deraa assault, which revived memories of the 1982 repression of an armed Islamist uprising in the city of Hama by Assad’s father, President Hafez al-Assad.

“Syria should not go through another massacre like Hama. We have reminded them of this,” Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who has sent envoys to Damascus and spoken to Assad several times during the unrest, told Turkey’s A-TV channel.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the European Union should impose sanctions on Syrian leaders including Assad in response to the violent suppression of pro-democracy protests.

Germany also repeated a call for EU sanctions. “The Syrian government’s continuing brutal actions leave the European Union no choice but to press firmly ahead with targeted sanctions against the regime,” Deputy Foreign Minister Werner Hoyer said.

Israel, which has relied on Assad and his father to keep their front line quiet for nearly four decades — despite Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights and Syria’s support for militants opposed to Israel — said Assad was losing his grip.

“I believe Assad is approaching the moment in which he will lose his authority. The growing brutality is pushing him into a corner, the more people are killed, the less chance Assad has to come out of it,” Defence Minister Ehud Barak said.

Reuters

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18 responses to “Assad is losing his grip, says Israeli DM”

  1. george_shalhoub Avatar
    george_shalhoub

    God willing he will tumble from power along with his family and will be hanged in the Streets of Daraa. I cannot believe that Hezbollah is supporting such brutal regime while complaining about the regime of Bahrain. I cannot believe Iranians are fighting the protesters in Syria along with Hezbollah too. Assad will be gone the people are tired of him and his family. Unfortunately he’s inciting his own sect to attack Sunnis. That will not help them in the long run and Sunnis will massacre them before year end. The brave Syrian protesters are no longer afraid of this criminal and his family. He can kill and arrest lots of people, but they will come in wave after wave until the regime is pushed into the ground. Fear no one but Allah and God is on the protesters side and he will help them eliminate this brutal and insane regime inshallah soon.

  2.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    God willing he will tumble from power along with his family and will be hanged in the Streets of Daraa. I cannot believe that Hezbollah is supporting such brutal regime while complaining about the regime of Bahrain. I cannot believe Iranians are fighting the protesters in Syria along with Hezbollah too. Assad will be gone the people are tired of him and his family. Unfortunately he’s inciting his own sect to attack Sunnis. That will not help them in the long run and Sunnis will massacre them before year end. The brave Syrian protesters are no longer afraid of this criminal and his family. He can kill and arrest lots of people, but they will come in wave after wave until the regime is pushed into the ground. Fear no one but Allah and God is on the protesters side and he will help them eliminate this brutal and insane regime inshallah soon.

  3. marroush Avatar
    marroush

    I believe that the Syrian people are having a peaceful movement, they should get outside help. They are willing to stand in the streets while being shot, isn’tthat brave enough? Do they have to literally arm themselves first and fight before they get outside help? The hypocrisy of tha arab countries, europe & USA makes me feel sad

  4. marroush Avatar
    marroush

    I believe that the Syrian people are having a peaceful movement, they should get outside help. They are willing to stand in the streets while being shot, isn’tthat brave enough? Do they have to literally arm themselves first and fight before they get outside help? The hypocrisy of tha arab countries, europe & USA makes me feel sad

  5.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    I believe that the Syrian people are having a peaceful movement, they should get outside help. They are willing to stand in the streets while being shot, isn’tthat brave enough? Do they have to literally arm themselves first and fight before they get outside help? The hypocrisy of tha arab countries, europe & USA makes me feel sad

  6. marroush Avatar
    marroush

    Assad is doing what most Arab despots do (Mubarak was not quite the despot Assad is), kill their own people, funnel arms to proxies to kill people in other countries, and steal as much of their people’s money as possible for the eventual exodus to some other friendly Arab dictator

  7. marroush Avatar
    marroush

    Assad is doing what most Arab despots do (Mubarak was not quite the despot Assad is), kill their own people, funnel arms to proxies to kill people in other countries, and steal as much of their people’s money as possible for the eventual exodus to some other friendly Arab dictator

  8.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Assad is doing what most Arab despots do (Mubarak was not quite the despot Assad is), kill their own people, funnel arms to proxies to kill people in other countries, and steal as much of their people’s money as possible for the eventual exodus to some other friendly Arab dictator

  9. marroush Avatar
    marroush

    Kaddafi and Assad are following Bin Laden steps, killing thousands of innocent people. Their time will come too

  10.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Kaddafi and Assad are following Bin Laden steps, killing thousands of innocent people. Their time will come too

  11. marroush Avatar
    marroush

    This morning’s oppression was brought to you by the assad of Syria!

  12.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    This morning’s oppression was brought to you by the assad of Syria!

  13. lebnaneh Avatar
    lebnaneh

    well as they say shit happen so now we need assad to be strong and take as much syrian with him before he leave and hope he have some chemical weapon he can use so he will give his people a spoon full what they where given us in lebanon wimps bastered israel on the other side you daft syrian

  14.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    well as they say shit happen so now we need assad to be strong and take as much syrian with him before he leave and hope he have some chemical weapon he can use so he will give his people a spoon full what they where given us in lebanon wimps bastered israel on the other side you daft syrian

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