Has Bashar Al-Assad disappeared?

He is quoted daily in the national press, and his officials and mouthpieces are all over the place, telling the usual lies and making the usual assurances, but where is really?

He’s being referred to in the national newspapers on the daily basis, as has always been the case. He is reported to be meeting various delegations from all over the country, is often quoted making references to current events in the country, as he makes excuses for the violence perpetrated by his security officers. Still, no recent videos or images of him are available. Even footage from his appearance last Friday to put flowers on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in commemoration of Martyr’s Day was shown to date back to 2010. So, where in the world is Bashar Al-Assad?

Some claim that he is the victim of a palace coup orchestrated by his brother Maher in cooperation with other army generals and security chiefs, and that Bashar is currently either under house arrest, dead, or in Tehran.

So, where in the world is Bashar Al-Assad? He is where he wants to be: running the show and hanging for dear life, with other members of the family (for this a family affair, as Rami Makhlouf clearly put it), to an ever shrinking straw. Now whether his First Lady is with him or in London, as some reports claim, is important only as an indication as to the Assads’ own sense of how serious the crisis is. But then we need look no farther the statements of Rami Makhlouf to know how troubled the Assads are at this stage: the family-based nature of decision-making has been laid bare for all to see, and the nature of their gambit “deal with us or make trouble for everybody” has been clearly enunciated. First, it was Bashar himself, now it is Rami, and in-between, the revelations about Maher and his involvement in Seydnaya Massacre, the entire family has by now gone full monty. There are no more fig leafs, and no more excuses. 

Indict the bastards! 

Iran Increasing Support to Help Assad Kill His People

Just as the latest chilling reports of government crackdowns in Syria emerged -- today, a 12-year-old boy was reportedly killed by security forces and a 10-year-old arrested to punish his parents -- another report surfaced that Bashar Assad's buddies in Tehran are playing an "increasingly active" role in the violent crackdown on demonstrators. Reports the Guardian:

"A senior western diplomat in Damascus expanded upon assertions, first made by White House officials last month, that Iran is advising President Bashar al-Assad's government on how to crush dissent.

The diplomat pointed to a 'significant' increase in the number of Iranian personnel in the country since protests began in mid-March.

Mass arrests carried out by door-to-door raids, similar to those that helped to crush Iran's 'green revolution' in 2009, have been ramped up in the past week.

Human rights groups suggest more than 7,000 people have been detained in total since the uprising began. More than 800 people are said to have died, up to 50 of them during last Friday's 'day of defiance'. 'Tehran has upped the level of technical support and personnel support from the Iranian Republican Guard to strengthen Syria's ability to deal with protesters,' the senior western diplomat said, adding that the personnel were not involved in any physical operations on the ground and numbered in the few hundreds.

'Since the start of the uprising, the Iranian regime has been worried about losing its most important ally in the Arab world and important conduit for weapons to Hezbollah [in Lebanon],' the diplomat said."

Also among this weekend's casualties are four women who were killed when government forces opened fire on an all-female demonstration against the regime.

Britain is among the nations now trying to get the United Nations to refuse Syria a seat on the Human Rights Council, a denial that should be a no-brainer but the body doesn't exactly have a golden record of weeding out human-rights abusers from its ranks. A supporter of Syria's appointment? Bahrain, where the ruling regime has enjoyed its own brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

If anyone harbors any doubts about the murderous acts of the Assad regime, take a look at the numerous videos of the carnage shot by brave Syrians and uploaded to YouTube (such as this one of Dara'a crackdown -- warning, the footage is bloody and graphic). Look at what Bashar Assad does to his own people.