Bashar Al Assad

By Ruslan Pukhov | NY Times | Moscow | 07 Jul 2012

Source : Khaled Yacoub Oweis | Reuters | 06 Jul 2012

He is a Republican Guard brigadier and son of Syria's longest-serving defense minister. But most of all Manaf Tlas is a friend of President Bashar al-Assad, a member of his inner circle and a prominent figure in the Damascus "young guard".

By : Raphael Satter | AP | London | 05 Jul 2012

The secret-spilling group WikiLeaks said Thursday it was in the process of publishing material from 2.4 million Syrian e-mails — many of which it said came from official government accounts.

WikiLeaks’ Sarah Harrison told journalists at London’s Frontline Club that the e-mails reveal interactions between the Syrian government and Western companies, although she declined to go into much further detail.

Source : Agencies | 03 Jul 2012

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has told a Turkish newspaper he wished Syrian forces had not shot down a Turkish jet last month and that he would not allow the tensions between the two countries to turn into open combat.

"We learned that it (the plane) belonged to Turkey after shooting it down. I say 100 percent 'if only we had not shot it down'," the Cumhuriyet newspaper quoted Assad as saying in an interview published on Tuesday.

By : Stephanie Nebehay and Tom Miles | Reuters | Geneva | 30 Jun 2012

Foreign ministers of world powers gather in Geneva on Saturday to try and forge a common strategy to end the bloodshed in Syria, but differences between Russia and the West may thwart them.

Kofi Annan, the former U.N. chief who is special international envoy on Syria, has been hoping for consensus on a plan for a unity government that, by excluding from the leadership figures deemed too divisive, would effectively mean President Bashar al-Assad stepping down.

Source : John Heilprin | AP | Geneva | 27 Jun 2012

The violence in Syria has worsened since a cease-fire deal in April and the bloodshed appears to be taking on dangerous sectarian overtones, the UN said Wednesday.

Investigators say they have concluded that Syrian government troops could be behind the killing of more than 100 civilians in the village of Houla last month. The findings, which were presented to the UN’s top human rights body, could lay some of the groundwork for prosecuting alleged crimes against humanity and other abuses in Syria.

Source : RIA Novosti | 15 Jun 2012

The United States and Russia continue discussions on a post-Assad transition strategy despite some disagreements on approaches to the settlement of a political crisis in Syria, the U.S. State Department said.

U.S. Deputy State Secretary Robert Burns met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday on the sidelines of the Hearts of Asia ministerial meeting in Kabul to discuss a wide range of issues, including the situation in Syria.

Source : Agencies | 14 Jun 2012

Syrian government forces are killing civilians in organised attacks on towns and villages that amount to crimes against humanity, Amnesty International said on Thursday, citing evidence from over 20 locations in the country's northwest.

The rights group repeated its call for the United Nations Security Council to refer Syria to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and to impose an arms embargo.

Source : Agencies | 09 Jun 2012

Russia will not oppose the departure of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad if such a move is a result of a dialogue between Syrians themselves and is not enforced through external pressure, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday.

"If the Syrians agree (about Assad's departure) between each other, we will only be happy to support such a solution," Lavrov told reporters. "But we believe it is unacceptable to impose the conditions for such a dialogue from outside."

Source : AFP | Damascus | 05 Jun 2012

Russia said yesterday that President Bashar Assad could leave power as part of a settlement to end bloodshed in Syria, as Damascus agreed to allow relief workers to visit four trouble spots.

“We have never said or insisted that Assad necessarily had to remain in power at the end of the political process,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said in Switzerland.

“This issue has to be settled by the Syrians themselves,” ITAR-TASS news agency quoted him as saying.