Arabian Business.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EXCLUSIVE: Assad will hang on to bloody end – cousin<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Massoud A. Derhally<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wednesday, 18 July 2012 9:36 PM<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The killing of senior security figures within Bashar Al-Assad’s inner circle has put Syria at a “dark” and pivotal juncture that could lead to full blown civil war and a potential regional conflict, the embattled President’s cousin told Arabian Business on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A suicide bomb blast in the Syrian capital Damascus on Wednesday left up to four senior officials from the regime dead, including Al-Assad’s brother-in-law Assef Shawkat, Defence Minister Dawoud Rajiha, former Defence Minister Hassan Turkmani, and reportedly, Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a disaster, I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s the beginning of the end but I think it\u2019s a disaster,\u201d Ribal Al-Assad, who heads the London-based Organisation for Democracy and Freedom in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re at a huge risk of civil and regional war,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s very scary because all sides have arms, all are committed to violence, all sides are committed to winning this conflict and it\u2019s going to lead to more bloodshed. I think now we are going to start seeing civil war I think it was just the beginning, I think the number of dead is going to rise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the start of something very dark,\u201d said Assad who is one of 8 sons of Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of the Syrian president who was forced into exile by his brother, Hafez al- Assad, in 1984 after an attempted coup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Liwa al Islam, an Islamist rebel group whose name means ‘The Brigade of Islam’ claimed responsibility for today’s attack, as did the rebel Free Syrian Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
British Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned the attack officials, adding that it “strengthened” the argument for decisive UN action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Leon Panetta, the US Defence Secretary, said Syria was “rapidly spinning out of control”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conflict in Syria is now in its 16th month and has claimed over 10,000 lives according to the UN, although activists put the figure at more than 17,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAssad will not go on his own,\u201d Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a statement carried by the state-run Interfax news agency. He said calls for him to do so \u201care rooted in hopelessness\u201d and that \u201cthe decisive fight\u201d is under way in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ribal Al-Assad said it was unlikely his cousin would step down or seek asylum in Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve heard him speak, you\u2019ve heard Lavrov speak, and he\u2019s not going to step down,\u201d Assad said. \u201cIf he wanted to step down he would have stepped down from the beginning when everybody had asked him to. If he had stepped down and joined the people… and gotten rid of the corrupt people around him, who are dragging the country down that road [of civil war,] we wouldn\u2019t have been where we are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Today is a complete chaotic scenario with Islamist groups from everywhere, from al-Qaeda, to unknown groups from Iraq and other places, to the Free Syrian Army to people just defending their homes. It\u2019s chaotic,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a report in April, the International Crisis Group (ICG) warned that upheaval in Syria was crossing \u201calarming thresholds\u201d and that conflict was in \u201cperpetual motion\u201d and the \u201cregime\u2019s behaviour has fuelled extremists on both sides and, by allowing the country\u2019s slide into chaos, provided them space to move in and operate\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cConditions have been created in which extreme forms of violence may well become routine,” ICG added. “In turn, this will further empower the most radical elements on all sides, justifying the worst forms of regime brutality and prompting appalling retaliation in response.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Ribal Al-Assad what is most concerning is the prospect of an all-out civil war and wider conflict that spills into neighbouring countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very scary,\u201d he said. \u201cThey look like they\u2019re at the door they look very close. If we go down the road of civil war everybody is going to pay the price.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n