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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Assad back in public eye with Iran
BEIRUT -- Syrian President Bashar Assad made his first appearance on state TV in nearly three weeks Tuesday in a show of solidarity with a senior Iranian envoy even as the U.S. urged stepped up international planning for the regime's collapse.
The contrasts couldn't have been more vivid: Assad and Iran's Saeed Jalili vowing to defeat the rebels and their backers, while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton predicted Assad's regime was quickly unravelling, with high-level defections such as his prime minister's switch to the rebel side.
It also highlighted Assad's deepening reliance on a shrinking list of allies, led by Tehran. Assad used Jalili's visit to portray a sense of command and vowed to fight his opponents "relentlessly."
Jalili, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, promised Iran would stand by Syria against its "enemies" -- a clear reference to the rebels' Western backers and others such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The mission by Jalili appeared to reflect Iran's efforts to reassure Syria of its backing and ease speculation Tehran also could be making contingencies for Assad's possible fall.
On a visit to South Africa, Clinton described Assad's regime as splintering from Monday's defection of Syria's prime minister, Riad Hijab, and other military and political figures breaking away in recent months. She urged leaders to begin work on a "good transition plan" to try to keep Syria from collapsing into more chaos after Assad.
"I am not going to put a timeline on it. I can't possibly predict it, but I know it's going to happen as do most observers around the world," Clinton said.
A post-Assad Syria presents a host of worrisome scenarios, including a cycle of revenge and power grabs by the country's patchwork of factions. They include the Sunni-led rebels and Assad's minority Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam and part of its close bonds with Shiite power Iran.
A growing humanitarian crisis is already taking hold. More than 1,300 Syrians fled to Turkey on Tuesday as rebels tried to expand their hold inside Aleppo, Syria's largest city, despite two weeks of withering counterattacks by Assad's troops. Close to 48,000 Syrians have already taken refuge in Turkey.
-- The Associated Press
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 8, 2012 A9
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