Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s carefully cultivated image as a modest leader with reformist leanings, close to his people and understanding of their concerns, has taken a severe beating after a month of brutal security measures against a burgeoning civil protest movement for greater freedoms that has slowly stretched across the country. The tall, trim, blue-eyed father of three has responded to the uprising in his country, the greatest challenge to his 11-year rule, with a characteristic mix of soft and hard measures, promising reform while also unleashing his security forces on the streets to crush dissent.
On Saturday, the president said that the country’s 48-year-old emergency law would be lifted next week, a major concession to protesters, but at the same time warned that acts of “sabotage” would not be tolerated. The comments mark just the second time Assad has spoken to his people since unrest erupted a month ago, “The comments mark just the second time Assad has spoken to his people since unrest erupted a month ago, and were more conciliatory in tone than his previous address. He acknowledged that the economy was “the biggest problem in the country,” and that his regime should be more responsive to its citizens. “The world is rapidly changing around us and we have to keep up with developments,” he said. “We have to focus on the demands and the aspirations of the people or there will be a sense of anger.” Assad expressed sadness for the loss of life in demonstrations. “We pray for their souls, whether they’re from the armed forces, the police or ordinary citizens. Investigations are continuing to find those responsible and hold them responsible.” The speech came the day after protest marches took place across the country, including the capital Damascus. Basel in a car accident in 1994. The tragedy forced Bashar to abandon his opthamology studies in London and quickly return home. His brother’s death changed him, says Khaled Mahjoub, a Syrian industrialist who says he has known the Assads since he and Basel were in kindergarten together. “He felt the responsibility,” says Mahjoub, the founder and owner of Sukna projects, a green housing developer. “He was always responsible in his actions, but after Basel passed away, he had responsibility with authority.”
Mahjoub concurs that Assad has a certain steeliness, but says that’s just a reflection of the burden of responsibility he bears. “When there’s a serious meeting, he’s extremely serious, at dinners he’s fun, he can take criticism. He’s a nice guy.”
Mahjoub hasn’t spoken to Assad in the past month, but says they discussed the turmoil that toppled the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt and that now threatens other Arab leaders, including Assad. “Deep inside, I think he is hurt, deeply hurt, by seeing this blood in Syria. I know that,” Mahjoub says. “We talked about it several times, about what was happening in Egypt, the violence there.”
The key thing to know about Assad, Mahjoub says, is that “he doesn’t manage by crisis. He works based on importance, not urgency, and has a very clear, pragmatic and critical thinking that he uses.”
Yet crises have defined his time in office, from 9/11 and its fallout on the Muslim and Arab world, the 2003 Iraq war, the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri
