Watch Syria

By D.J. McGuire | Monday, March 21st, 2011 | International

Iran’s puppet regime is facing a (small) popular uprising. Its reaction, frankly, stuns me (BBC, emphasis added):

Demonstrators in the southern Syrian city of Deraa have set fire to several buildings during a third consecutive day of protests, witnesses say.
One report said the buildings targeted included the headquarters of the ruling Baath Party.

. . .

The protesters are said to be in control of the centre of the city and to have turned a mosque into a field hospital.

. . .

Protests were also reported in other parts of the country on Friday and Sunday, and human rights activists said the authorities had been arresting those who took part.

. . .

The BBC’s Owen Bennett-Jones reports from neighbouring Lebanon that Syrian authorities are using a combination of force and concessions to try to prevent further protests.

A combination of force and concessions?

The fellow who currently runs Syria – Bashar Assad – inherited the job from his farther, Hafez al-Assad. In 1982, Papa Assad faced a similar uprising in Hama. He reduced the city to rubble, executed anyone he could find there (about 20,000-40,000 people, depending on the source), and erased Hama from the map. Every Syrian who was alive then knows what happened, and has been quaking in fear ever since.

Unless Assad the younger decides to erase Deraa (and soon), the Syrian people wiil quickly conclude that he has less resolve and strength than his father – at which point, all hell breaks loose.

So keep an eye on Syria. It is the lynchpin of Tehran’s region hegemon strategy. If it goes into turmoil – or actually falls to an anti-mullahcratic resistance – the region will never be the same.

Emphasis on “if,” mind you, but it’s still well worth watching.

Cross-posted to RWL

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