Assad doing a “Qaddafi”

In a recent post I discussed the shaky position of Assad and, perhaps optimistically, forecast the coming end of the baathist regime in Damascus. It seems I may have been right after all:

Over the past month, the government of President Bashar Assad has been inquiring about the potential for a deal, roughly equivalent to what Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi did to end tough international sanctions imposed for his country's role in the 1988 midair bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the officials said.

"Bashar is moving toward the moment of truth, the defining moment of his presidency," said a senior European diplomat familiar with the U.N. probe. "The Mehlis report is due on October 25, and if he reports that this goes all the way to the top of Damascus, there will be a political earthquake."

Syria, Assad, Qaddafi