lucky wilbury
05-01-2005, 12:57 PM
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=14714
Israeli spy master: 'Syrian president could be toppled'
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Saturday, April 30, 2005
JERUSALEM: Syrian President Bashar Assad could be ousted from power as his regime fractures under immense political pressure, the head of Israeli military intelligence said in an interview published Friday.
"His regime's stability is in great danger today, more than in the past. The economic problems will get worse" following Syria's troop pullout from Lebanon completed this week, Aharon Zeevi said in the newspaper Yediot Aharonot.
"He has problems with the Americans because of terrorists infiltrating from Syria into Iraq, water problems with Turkey, and an argument over territory that he should have transferred to Jordan. He is seen as a weak leader. I'm not sure that Bashar has the strength or talent to make a decision. ... If he does not show leadership, Bashar could certainly become a victim of circumstances," Zeevi said.
Israel is still technically at war with Syria and still occupies the Golan Heights, a territory seized from Syria during the 1967 war.
"People are already saying that perhaps Bashar is not supplying the goods, that perhaps he should be replaced," Zeevi said, warning that Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network "does not intend to sit by and do nothing" as Syria fractures.
General Asaf Shaukat, head of intelligence and Assad's brother-in-law, and the president's brother, Maher Assad, as possible leadership contenders.
On the home front, Zeevi said Israeli intelligence services had thwarted "more than 10 terror attacks against Israeli targets abroad" in the past month, without giving further details.
In the last attack, 34 people, including 13 Israelis, were killed in October when militants carried out bomb attacks in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, popular with Israeli holiday makers. - AFP
Israeli spy master: 'Syrian president could be toppled'
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Saturday, April 30, 2005
JERUSALEM: Syrian President Bashar Assad could be ousted from power as his regime fractures under immense political pressure, the head of Israeli military intelligence said in an interview published Friday.
"His regime's stability is in great danger today, more than in the past. The economic problems will get worse" following Syria's troop pullout from Lebanon completed this week, Aharon Zeevi said in the newspaper Yediot Aharonot.
"He has problems with the Americans because of terrorists infiltrating from Syria into Iraq, water problems with Turkey, and an argument over territory that he should have transferred to Jordan. He is seen as a weak leader. I'm not sure that Bashar has the strength or talent to make a decision. ... If he does not show leadership, Bashar could certainly become a victim of circumstances," Zeevi said.
Israel is still technically at war with Syria and still occupies the Golan Heights, a territory seized from Syria during the 1967 war.
"People are already saying that perhaps Bashar is not supplying the goods, that perhaps he should be replaced," Zeevi said, warning that Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network "does not intend to sit by and do nothing" as Syria fractures.
General Asaf Shaukat, head of intelligence and Assad's brother-in-law, and the president's brother, Maher Assad, as possible leadership contenders.
On the home front, Zeevi said Israeli intelligence services had thwarted "more than 10 terror attacks against Israeli targets abroad" in the past month, without giving further details.
In the last attack, 34 people, including 13 Israelis, were killed in October when militants carried out bomb attacks in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, popular with Israeli holiday makers. - AFP