Assad is fortunate in his enemies

His supporters, political sources in Damascus say, are jubilant, convinced the threat of regime change has lifted and that the Assads can face down opponents they consider weak – U.S. President Barack Obama and France’s President Francois Hollande among them – just as they saw off their predecessors.

“I think they feel that they can live this out and wait for leaders like Hollande and Obama to leave office, just as they did with Jacques Chirac and George W. Bush,” said one well-placed source in Damascus, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“I think Assad feels that the chemical weapons actually saved his regime, rather than brought it down.”…

“He is fortunate because he has Iran, which is willing to go all the way to support him, while there isn’t a single Arab country that has this kind of determination to enter the battlefield on the side of the opposition”, Naoum said.

“He is also fortunate because there is an American president who has no appetite for war and because Russia wants to settle its scores with America (via Syria)”.