Those who know Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad assert that he is extremely obstinate and clings to his opinions to such an extent that his closest advisors are afraid to oppose him on any issue, even if he asks them to discuss it. Those are from among the characteristics and work tools of a tyrannical ruler, used to impose the ruler's control, without distinguishing between small matters of detail and fateful issues, such as the future of Syria today. A few days ago, the commemoration of the Halabja massacre, committed by the Iraqi Baath party against Iraqi Kurds, coincided with a series of strongly worded warnings directed by Western governments at Assad, as a result of the growing possibility of the Syrian Baath regime repeating the mistakes of its former counterpart in Baghdad, after intelligence reports have come in regarding this issue. Western statements warned Assad that any attempt to resort to making use of chemical weapons would drive them to quickly move against him on the field. This is perhaps precisely what the ruler of Damascus seeks after, having failed to drag neighboring countries – such as Lebanon, Jordan and Syria – into entering as direct parties to the civil war blazing in his country, so as to bestow a regional dimension upon it. He perhaps thought that activating his non-conventional arsenal as a prelude to making use of it could help him to provoke a reaction that would reshuffle the cards and turn the Syrian conflict into a problem that concerns regional and global security, as well as move the differences in international stances on his remaining or leaving to a more dangerous phase, with the Americans and Europeans, followed by the Russians and the Chinese, directly entering the arena. Indeed, he knows that securing those chemical weapons would require deploying troops on the ground, which is what he seeks after in order to turn the confrontation between him and his people into a conflict between his regime and foreign countries. Contributing to the likelihood of such a possibility is the fact that Assad has not refrained from making use of everything in his conventional arsenal – artillery, air raids, missiles and cluster bombs – to strike at the cities and villages that have risen up against his dictatorship. And in spite of this, he has not succeeded to stop the advance of the rebels, who are now at the gates of Damascus and are obstructing travel at its civilian airport, after having taken control of a number of nearby military airports. He is certainly now thinking of making use of his chemical weapons, if what a former official in charge of these weapons, Major General Adnan Sillu, said after defecting proves true – namely that Syria's leadership has seriously discussed this option. That is a truly frightening matter, but its humanitarian aspect does not enter into the considerations of tyrants, or else they would not be what they are. A second factor making the chemical option a likely one is the fact that the efficiency of the air force is diminishing now that opposition fighters have the means to shoot them down, having plundered such means from the barracks of the regime itself, when they found hundreds of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. Furthermore, the support received from Iran and from Hezbollah, in terms of fighters and weapons, has not been able to effectively make a difference in the course of the fighting. The possibility of resorting to banned and highly dangerous weapons, involving substances such as sarin gas and mustard gas, the effects of which can last for decades, represents evidence of Assad's increasing desperation at his inability to stop the collapse of his regime. Yet it also confirms his willingness to do anything but “concede" to the opposition. Indeed, he would prefer his end to come as a result of a decision he would take on his own, rather than at the hands of the Syrians themselves. This is what some Russian officials have increasingly been discussing, asserting that Assad refuses to admit to losing the war and clings to remaining the “President" until his final breath.
