It looks as if Assad’s fall will take a while

[…] Those joining the sessions were top-level people. They have access to very strong intelligence. The Syrian briefing was given by Edward Djerejian, who served as the U.S. ambassador in Damascus until a short while ago. He is a diplomat who has spoken to Bashar Assad numerous times and written special reports to Washington. He believes it would not be easy to topple Assad. « He sits on such an ossified state structure, handed over to him from his father, the interests are so much intertwined with each other that [Assad] will not collapse so easily. … He will not stay in power forever, but his fall will take a long time, » he said. […]