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For Syrian Dictator Assad, Only Exit May Be Body Bag
(Washington Post) Joby Warrick and Anne Gearan - A growing consensus in Washington and in Middle East capitals now holds that Assad will be forced from power only by death or capture. "There will not be any negotiations," said Jeffrey White, a former senior Middle East analyst for the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency. "He will go down fighting, and he will probably do it in Damascus." A U.S. official with access to intelligence from inside Syria said Assad's moves so far suggest that he intends to dig in even deeper. "He's backed himself into an increasingly narrow corner," the official said. Military analysts and some U.S. officials said the ferocity of the government's assault on rebel strongholds in Damascus and Aleppo makes it clear that Assad believes a fight to the finish is his only option. The military is using tanks, artillery, helicopters and even fighter jets, reducing neighborhoods to ruins and inflicting untold civilian casualties.