WarSclerotic

The Egypt Riots And The 1979 Iranian Revolution, A Note Of Warning And Encouragement | The New Republic.

From an Iranian writer who lived through the 1979 Revolution.

After days of unrest, after declaring martial law in some of the country’s main cities, the authoritarian leader gave a much anticipated television speech. His tone was repentant. He promised change and reform. The people wanted democracy and he promised to bend to their wishes.  

For a long time, the United States had been advising him to open his political system—but had been seen publicly as his chief supporter. The U.S. president had given lofty and elegant speeches defending democracy and human rights, assuring the people of the Middle East that the United States supported their democratic demands. But both the leader and his American supporters were caught off-guard by the size of the demonstrations. American officials began trying to walk a dangerous tight-rope: offering support for the beleaguered leader but also establishing ties and credibility with the opposition.

When the leader tried to use the force of his military to calm the situation, the United States issued ambiguous statements, indicating support for the leader’s desire to establish law and order on the one hand while at the same time insisting that the march of democracy must continue, and that the use of force could not be a solution to the country’s problems. Benefiting from the subsequent chaos, radical Islamists, posing as democrats, used the chance to seize power and deracinate the democratic movement in favor of tradition and theocracy.

The country I am speaking of is not Egypt in 2011 but Iran in 1979. The leader is the Shah, not Hosni Mubarak. Yet, as this history makes clear, the parallels between then and now are numerous. And they offer some key lessons for Americans and Egyptians alike.

For U.S. policymakers, the Iranian Revolution illustrates the perils of vacillating between defending an old regime and establishing ties with new democrats. President Obama must use all of his persuasive power to demand that Hosni Mubarak immediately declare that he will not seek reelection. The Egyptian dictator must be persuaded to appoint a caretaker government that will handle the daily affairs of the state, headed by a moderate member of the opposition like Mohammed ElBaradei. This might be the last chance to arrange an orderly transition to democracy, one wherein anti-democratic forces in any guise—religious, military, secular, or theocratic—cannot derail the democratic process.

For Egyptians, the history of the Iranian Revolution should serve as a warning. In 1978, Ayatollah Khomeini hid his true intentions—namely the creation of a despotic rule of the clerics—behind the mantle of democracy. More than once he promised that not a single cleric would hold a position of power in the future government. But once in power, he created the current clerical despotism. And when, in June 2009, three million people took to the streets of Tehran to protest decades of oppression, they were brutally suppressed.

With this history in mind, Egyptian democrats must not be fooled by the radical Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood. If and when Mubarak falls, they simply cannot allow the most radical and brutal forces to win in the ensuing chaos. If these forces are allowed to claim power using the rhetoric of democracy, Egyptians will find themselves decades from now needing another uprising, which is precisely the current situation of the Iranian people.

The propaganda machine for the clerical regime in Tehran has been gloating about the similarities between the events of Islamic Revolution of 1979 in Iran and developments in Egypt now. It shamelessly claims that today’s uprising in Egypt is but an aftershock of the revolution in Iran. The Egyptian people must prove them wrong.

And not just for the sake of Egypt. For over a century, Egypt, like Iran, has been a bellwether state for the entire region. The arrival of freedom to Egypt would therefore put the Iranian mullahs on the defensive. Far from a repeat of 1979, the Egyptian uprising might begin to seem like a close cousin of 2009—a true democratic revolt. This would give confidence to democrats across the Middle East. It would suggest that the tectonic plates in the region really are shifting away from despotism and dogma, toward democracy and reason. Inshallah!

Abbas Milani is a contributing editor for The New Republic and the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford, where he is the co-director of the Iran Democracy Project. His latest book is The Shah.

Egyptian army steps up presence in chaotic Cairo.

ElBaradei appears at main square to encourage demonstrators; 1000s of prisoners flee 4 jails attacked by protesters; Mideast stock markets drop; in first briefing, Netanyahu notes ministers have been ordered to keep mum.

Egypt’s most prominent reform advocate called on Sunday for President Hosni Mubarak to resign after the powerful military stepped up its presence across the anarchic capital, closing roads with tanks and sending F-16 fighter jets streaking over downtown.

Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei appeared in Tahrir Square around 7 p.m. “You are the owners of this revolution. You are the future,” he told the cheering crowd.

“Our essential demand is the departure of the regime and the beginning of a new Egypt in which each Egyptian lives in virtue, freedom and dignity.”

The army’s show of force appeared aimed at quelling looting, armed robbery and arson that broke out alongside pro-democracy protests and have turned the cultural heart of the Arab world into a tableau of once-unimaginable scenes of chaos.

The military made no attempt to disperse some 5,000 protesters gathered at Tahrir Square, a plaza in the heart of downtown Cairo that protesters have occupied since Friday afternoon.

They had violated the curfew to call for the ouster of Mubarak’s regime, which they blame for poverty, unemployment, widespread corruption and police brutality.

One of the senior leaders of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, which wants to establish an Islamist state in the Arab world’s most populous nation, told The Associated Press he was heading to Tahrir Square to meet with other opposition leaders.

“You can call this a revolution, you can call this an uprising,” Essam el-Erian said.

As the situation in Egypt continues to unfold, with the events certain to have tremendous ramifications for both Israeli and US policy in the region, the two countries were in close consultation at the highest levels over the weekend, monitoring the situation and trading assessments.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on Saturday evening both with US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and on Sunday Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke by phone with Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Netanyahu, in his first public comments on the crisis, said at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting that Israel was “anxiously monitoring” the developments in Egypt and the region.

“Our efforts are designed to continue and maintain stability and security in our region,” he said.

Netanyahu, who last met with Mubarak to discuss the diplomatic process three weeks ago in Sharm e-Sheikh, said “the peace between Israel and Egypt has endured for over three decades, and our goal is to ensure that these relations continue.

“Of course, at this time, we must show maximum responsibility, restraint and good judgment, and, to this end, I have instructed my fellow ministers to refrain from commenting on this issue. Naturally, we are also holding consultations in the appropriate government forums.”

Unlike other countries and international organizations, such as the US, EU and UN, Israel – which obviously has a huge stake in how things turn out in Egypt – has made no official comment on the matter, beyond Netanyahu’s brief comments.

Economic turmoil hits following protests

On the first day of trading across the region after a weekend of protests and violence, nervous investors drove stocks down sharply. Crowds of foreigners filled Cairo International Airport, desperate and unable to leave because dozens of flights were canceled and delayed.

The US Embassy said it was making arrangements to begin flying Americans out on Monday. The families of Israeli diplomats were evacuated over the weekend.

Gangs of armed men attacked at least four jails across Egypt before dawn, helping to free hundreds of Muslim extremists and thousands of other inmates. Young men with guns and large sticks smashed cars and robbed people in Cairo.

The official death toll from five days of growing crisis stood at 97, with thousands wounded, but reports from witnesses across the country indicated that the actual toll was far higher.

The lawlessness, uncertainty, and indications of an attempted exodus from Cairo were gravely damaging Egypt’s economy, particularly tourism, which accounts for as much as 11 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

Banks were closed on orders from Egypt’s Central Bank, and the country’s stock market was shut on what is normally the first day of the trading week.

An unprecedented Internet cutoff remained in place for a third day after the country’s four primary Internet providers stopped moving data in and out of the country early on Friday, in an apparent move by authorities to disrupt the organization of demonstrations. Mobile-phone networks were back up but with text-messaging widely disrupted.

Secretary of State Clinton appealed for an orderly transition to lasting democracy, saying the US expects that the protests will lead to free and fair elections.

“I want the Egyptian people to have a chance to chart a new future,” she said. “It’s not a question of who retains power… It’s how are we going to respond to the legitimate needs and grievances expressed by the Egyptian people.”

Widespread looting and attacks erupted after police almost all disappeared on Friday evening, creating a security vacuum only partially filled by the presence of army troops backed by tanks at key sites around the city of 18 million people.

The military has been generally welcomed by demonstrators across Cairo, unlike the widely despised police, and the army sent hundreds more troops and armored vehicles onto the streets starting on Sunday morning.

Police return to Cairo’s streets

In the afternoon, truckloads of hundreds of police poured back into Cairo neighborhoods and took up positions on the streets.

Interior Minister Habib al-Adly told police commanders he was ordering security forces to return to the streets in the capital and elsewhere to work in tandem with troops to restore order.

“It is necessary that the police role is quickly restored and that there should be cooperation in the field with the armed forces … to defend the presence and future of the nation,” he said.

In some spots, cops were jeered by residents who chanted anti-police slogans and demanded that they only be allowed to deploy jointly with the military.

In one part of Tahrir Square, soldiers working with civilian protester volunteers were even checking IDs and bags of people arriving at the square, saying they were searching for weapons and making sure plainclothes police were kept out.

“The army is protecting us, they won’t let police infiltrators sneak in!” one volunteer shouted.

Then, minutes before the start of a 4 p.m. curfew, at least two jets roared over the Nile and toward Tahrir Square.

The jets made several passes over the square, dropping lower every time and setting off alarms in parked cars.

Some protesters clapped and waved to them while others jeered. Lines of army tanks jammed a road leading into Tahrir, and a military helicopter hovered overhead.

“This is terrorism, they are trying to scare the people with the planes and the tanks. They are trying to make people afraid and leave the square,” said Gamal Ahmed, a 40-year-old air-conditioning technician.

By evening, the presence of overtly pious Muslims in the square was conspicuous, suggesting a significant Muslim Brotherhood representation. Hundreds performed the sunset prayers. Veiled women prayed separately.

ElBaradei, the former head of the UN nuclear watchdog left after his brief appearance, and some demonstrators dismissed him as an expatriate long removed from the country’s problems.

“Many people feel he loves prizes and traveling abroad,” said Muhammad Munir, 27. “He’s not really one of the people.”

About two hours later the government announced that it was moving the start of the curfew from 4 p.m. to 3. The widely ignored ban on movement outdoors still ends at 8 a.m.

Mubarak, 82, perpetuated the overriding role of military men in Egyptian politics on Saturday by naming his intelligence chief, former army general Omar Suleiman, to the new role of vice president. Ahmed Shafiq, the outgoing civil aviation minister and Mubarak’s fellow former air force officer, was named prime minister.

State TV on Sunday showed images of Mubarak during what it said was a visit to the country’s military command center. The president looked somber and fatigued in his first public appearance since he addressed the nation late on Friday to promise reform and announce the dismissal of his cabinet.

The brief footage appeared designed to project an image of normalcy.

But Egyptian security officials said that overnight armed men fired at guards in gun battles that lasted hours at the four prisons, including one northwest of Cairo that held hundreds of Islamist militants. The prisoners escaped after starting fires and clashing with guards.

Those who fled included 34 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, whose lawyer, Abdel-Monaem Abdel-Maqsoud, told AP they were among scores rounded up by authorities ahead of large anti-government demonstrations on Friday. The escapees included at least seven senior members of the group.

The security officials said several inmates were killed and wounded, but gave no specific figures.

The officials told AP that army troops were hunting for the escaped prisoners, in some cases with the help of the police. State television showed footage of what it said was dozens of prisoners recaptured by the army troops, squatting on dirt while soldiers kept watch over them.

In the southern city of Assiut, officials said riot police stormed the city’s main prison to quell a riot, using tear gas and batons against inmates. An AP reporter saw army tanks deployed outside the prison, on bridges straddling the Nile and at the police headquarters.

Thousands of people met to pray in downtown Alexandria, a Mediterranean port city that is a stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood. After prayers, the crowd marched toward the city’s old mosque to pray for the souls of those who died in the protests.

Al-Jazeera said that Egyptian authorities ordered the closure of its Cairo news hub overseeing coverage of the country’s massive street protests, and denounced the move as an attempt to “stifle and repress” open reporting.

The Qatar-based network has given nearly round-theclock coverage to the unprecedented uprising against Mubarak and had faced criticism by government supporters and other Arab leaders as a forum to inspire more unrest.

Also on Sunday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for nonviolence in Egypt before an audience that included Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

“With respect to Egypt, I once again make a call for restraint, nonviolence and respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights,” the secretary-general said in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he is attending a summit of the African Union.

The challenges for Africa remain great, Ban said, but he sees “clearer skies ahead” because of the African Union.

“The Charter of the United Nations – of which you are all signatories – and the Constitutive Act of the African Union share the same principles and goals and values – peace, security, stability, human rights, good governance and the rule of law, dignity and economic development, social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,” Ban said.

Jordana Horn in New York contributed to this report.

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Breaking Egypt’s spirit / A war of attrition – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

In July 1969 Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian president at the time, declared that though he was unable to conquer Sinai, he could break Israel’s spirit by attrition. Hosni Mubarak, who was then commander of the Egyptian air force, is adopting the same attitude when it comes to countering the millions of Egyptians who would like to bring his 30-year reign to an end.

The Egyptian president knows that eliminating the protesters from the streets altogether will mean a bloodbath. So he has opted for something else: a war of attrition against the demonstrators.

	A wounded protester in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Saturday.
	Photo by: AP

Mubarak met yesterday with the military leadership, wanting to show that he remains in control. Egyptian Defense Minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi was photographed walking the streets of Cairo, embracing soldiers deployed at protest sites. The military forces in those areas were given clear orders to avoid confrontations with the demonstrators as much as they could, but not to give up on the key strategic locations.

The deployment of forces near the presidential palace, the Interior Ministry, the broadcasting authority and dozens of other locations is part of a military plan called “will” for which the army trained more than once in the past decade, in anticipation of a possible attempt to overthrow the regime by popular revolution.

That plan also calls for the army not to deal directly with the demonstrators, and soldiers have been operating under these guidelines since Friday, when they were first deployed in Cairo after police failed to contain the demonstrations.

Egyptian Interior Minister Habib al-Adly announced yesterday that the police and the internal security forces will return to the cities in order to ensure public order, following many complaints of looting, robbery and rape. However, the police will not head for Tahrir Square, the center of the demonstrations. The protesters will be permitted to go on holding rallies there, probably in the hope that as time passes the demonstrations will lose steam and their numbers will gradually decline.

Last night, tens of thousands of Egyptians went to the square, ready to demonstrate – and leaving open the question of which side will break first: the demonstrators or the security forces.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood announced that Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Prize laureate and former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was authorized to hold a dialogue with the authorities to set up a unity government for an interim period until general elections are held.

ElBaradei went to Tahrir Square yesterday and once more called on Mubarak to step down.

Saying that what has begun is irreversible, he reiterated that the demonstrators have a single demand: an end to the regime and the start of a new Egypt.

He also said he intends to talk with the heads of the Egyptian army, indicating he may try to convince them to rid themselves of Mubarak.

In Israel, defense officials are still unsure of the implications of the turmoil. They view the protests as a historic turn of events, to be sure, but are still not sure what the bottom line is.

The view in Israel is that the struggle between the two sides is still continuing: The army is trying to restore calm and, to a certain degree, is taking advantage of the anarchy that has ensued for its own needs. The chaos may make Egyptians more willing to see the army restore order. If the army does succeed in this, the current government may be able to stay in power, at least temporarily. Senior Egyptian officials who spoke yesterday with their Israeli counterparts appeared confident and convinced that the army will ensure that the government stays on.

The image the Egyptian government conveys to the outside world is of paramount importance, since any additional weakness may bring it tumbling down. It is too soon to discount the Mubarak regime, although it will never be the same. The old guard may end up ensuring a relatively orderly transfer of power to an accepted successor – who will not be the president’s son, Gamal Mubarak.

The anarchy has also affected the situation along the border between Sinai and Rafah, with Bedouin taking over the town on the Egyptian side of the border for a day and driving out the security forces. Presumably, Hamas is making use of the vacuum to send militants and arms into Sinai to continue their war on Israel from there.

The Media Line.

Written by Arieh O’Sullivan Published Sunday, January 30, 2011

Despite peace treaty, Israel has maintained ability to fight two-front war The story goes that an Israeli army chief of general staff once came to his headquarters and announced that he had some good news and some bad news. The bad news was that Egypt now has top-of-the-line, sophisticated U.S. weaponry. The good news was … that Egypt has top-of-the-line, sophisticated U.S. weaponry. American military support – and the spare parts to keep the equipment running — comes with conditions attached, including that they aren’t used against Washington’s Israeli ally. Nevertheless, Israel never abandoned its doctrine to maintain forces capable of fighting a two-front war, even if it hadn’t faced Egypt on the battlefield for over 37 years and has formally been at peace with it since 1979. Currently, the Egyptian threat is regarded as low that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has deployed female soldiers to patrol the frontier. The mixed male-female Caracal battalion, a crack combat unit, has proven to be efficient in border patrol, but even its commander has acknowledged his soldiers wouldn’t be there in any conventional war setting. At army headquarters in Tel Aviv, lights burned bright over the weekend as Defense Minister Ehud  Barak convened top commanders and intelligence officer to assess the possible scenarios of the Egyptian upheaval. Sunday morning, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet he was “anxiously monitoring” events in Egypt. “Our efforts are designed to continue and maintain stability and security in our region. I remind you that the peace between Israel and Egypt has endured for over three decades and our goal is to ensure that these relations continue.” Still, 30 years of “cold peace” have never eliminated the deep-rooted insecurities and mutual distrust between the Israeli and Egyptian armed forces. While the peace treaty has given the IDF relief in building its battle order, the military has never taken its eye off its southern neighbor and war plans still call for a hefty reserve force to be set aside for dealing with Egypt, no matter where a confrontation may break out. Since coming under the U.S. orbit in the wake of the 1979 peace treaty with Israel brokered by Washington, Egypt has received $1.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid. Egypt’s army launched an ambitious modernization plan, cutting its personnel from about 600,000 to 340,000 to build a mobile and efficient force. Egypt’s most impressive achievement has been its air force, which the Military Balance published by the Institute for National Security Studies, describes as “the most far-reaching transformation of any air arm in the Middle East.” Egypt has about 200 advanced American F-16s and some two dozen French Mirage 2000 interceptors. It also has 100 attack helicopters, compared with just 80 in Israel, according to the Center for Strategic International Studies. Furthermore, Egypt has some 500 multiple rocket launchers (twice the number as Israel) and nearly half of its 3,100 tanks are Western, including nearly 1,000 M1s. The Egyptian Navy is the most robust in the eastern Mediterranean basin, with 10 frigates, four submarines and 23 missile boats. Egypt has had surface-to-surface missile since the early 1970s and its Scud rockets reportedly are capable of reaching anywhere in Israel. Egypt had in the past generation been relegated to a very marginal actor in the IDF threat assessment. But slowly, Egypt has been moving front and center and its increasingly sophisticated and Western military today represents, on paper, the biggest conventional military danger to the IDF. Israeli military officers have spoken privately about the concern over the aggressive character of the Egyptian buildup. Until now, the IDF, too, has been caught in a double bind. It sees the Egyptian army preparing to fight, yet is hesitant to call Egypt an enemy out of fear of turning it into one. Nevertheless, watching Egypt spend $1.3 billion on weapons every year, even if IDF intelligence believed Cairo had no clear interest in war with Israel, didn’t pass quietly; particularly after annual military exercises included simulated crossings of the Suez Canal and fighting against an enemy which fit the profile of Israel. Today, the IDF holds two low-readiness armored divisions opposite Sinai. But IDF contingency plans call for Israel to hold back another three divisions from another front to be shifted against Egyptian forces, should they move on Israel, according to Jane’s Intelligence Review. Ironically, Egypt’s modernization program has presented a scenario never faced by Israel before with its half indigenous/half U.S.-made weaponry possibly squaring off against similar Western weapons held by Egypt. Alex Fischman, long-time military analyst for Yediot Ahronot, the nation’s largest daily, warned that now was the time for Israel to make “political and security modifications.” These included creating additional forces for Israel’s Southern Command. The defense establishment in Israel has long spoken of the end of the Mubarak era — after all, he is 83 and no one lives forever. But the intelligence was caught off guard by the contagion effect of popular uprising across North Africa. Yediot Ahronot quoted an unnamed senior Mossad official saying as recent at January 6 that they did not foresee any immediate threat to the ruling elite in Egypt. Just like the Israeli intelligence didn’t foresee the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979, Hamas takeover in Gaza in 2007 or the serious deterioration of the strategic ties with Turkey in past two years, no one saw this coming either. But in terms of long-range strategic planning, ironically, it won’t have too much of a serious impact on Israel’s battle order or defense doctrine. While the ability of the Egyptian military to pose a threat to Israel grew, the peace treaty kept the probability of war breaking out low. This is bound to undergo a rethink now. The pace of a change in intention can be swift. Eli Shaked, a former Israeli ambassador to Egypt, said he didn’t believe the peace treaty would be harmed if associates of Mubarak inherit the regime. But this was definitely not the case if other scenarios developed, he said. “The problems is where one of the opposition groups, whether it’s the Muslim Brotherhood or the radical Islamists or … the non-religious [opposition] parties, then I think that there will no longer be any commitments whatsoever from their side to this special ties between Egypt and the West, the U.S. and Israel,” Shaked told The Media Line. “Then I see a danger to the peace treaty with Israel.” He added that U.S. demands for democratic free elections in Egypt would bring the Muslim Brotherhood to power and was “a very serious American mistake.” The entry of Egyptian forces into the demilitarized Sinai is a violating of the peace agreement. But Israel is flexible with Egypt when it comes to bending the rules of the treat. It had allowed a full brigade to deploy along the border in northern Sinai to prevent smuggling. And it would likely allow more forces in to put down growing discontent among the Bedouin. Shaked, who served in Cairo from 2003-2005, recalled his jealously over the warm relations he saw between Israel and Egyptian military commanders. “They treated each other like officers and gentlemen, quite unlike the Egyptian diplomacy. As a diplomat, I envied the officers who had found a way to cooperate and to discuss issues and problems in the most gentlemen-like way,” Shaked said. “The diplomats I knew from the Egyptian side, they were always talking about conflict and struggle and war.” In 1980, Israel received F-16 jets two years earlier than expected after the jets built for the Shah of Iran were diverted after Islamic fundamentalist overthrew him and abruptly ended the close alliance between Israel and Iran. For intelligence officers, it was a lesson never to be forgotten; that the distance between a close ally and a fundamental Islamic regime is just so short.

Tel Aviv protesters demand regime change outside Egyptian Embassy – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Activists of various faiths demonstrated in solidarity with Egyptian protesters, calling for Hosni Mubarak to leave office.

By David Sheen

Demonstrators in front of the Egyptian Embassy in north Tel Aviv on Friday expressed support for the massive anti-government protests taking place in Egypt and demanded that President Hosni Mubarak resign immediately.

A few dozen young people of various faiths carried Egyptian, Palestinian and Tunisian flags aloft, held signs in Arabic and Hebrew and chanted slogans denouncing the Mubarak regime. Israeli police kept a watchful eye from across the street but did not interfere.

The last four days have seen throngs of Egyptians take to the streets in what observers are calling the largest protest movement to sweep the country in the last quarter-century. Egyptian security services have tried to stem the wave of unrest, to no avail.

The Tel Aviv-area activists hastily organized the Egyptian Embassy protest over Facebook. Activist Muhammad Jabali said that the demonstration was held in solidarity with the people of Egypt and in support of democracy.

The protests were touched off by a rash of self-immolations. Two weeks ago, three Egyptian men publicly set themselves on fire in three separate incidents to protest government indifference to rising food prices.

Recent weeks have seen massive protests throughout North Africa and the Middle East, with demonstrators demanding lower food prices and an end to government corruption and political oppression.

The first wave of protests began when a Tunisian man set himself on fire, exasperated that he could not feed his family. That act inspired multiple copycat immolations in other Arab countries, and ignited the ire of citizens from Algeria to Jordan.

Demonstrations in Tunisia reached a critical mass and forced the ouster of President Ben Ali, who had ruled the country for 23 years. In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak has ruled for over 29 years, and analysts say that he is grooming his son Gamal to take over the reigns of power.

Assad: Mideast leaders must accommodate people’s desire for change – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

Syrian President Bashar Assad says he will promote political reform in his country in the wake of popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

By Haaretz Service

Syrian President Bashar Assad said that he will advocate for political and economic reform in Syria, it was reported in the Wall Street Journal on Sunday. Assad made the comments in response to massive protests against widespread poverty and political oppression that have swept the Middle East in the last two months.

“If you didn’t see the need of reform before what happened in Egypt and Tunisia, it’s too late to do any reform,” Assad told the American journal, signaling that he would attempt to pre-empt a popular uprising against his own regime before potentially destabilizing demonstrations reached the streets of Damascus.

	Syrian President Bashar Assad, November 10, 2010.
	Photo by: AP

Bashar Assad assumed the presidency of Syria in 2000, and prior to that his father Hafez Assad had occupied the office of president for three decades.

Demonstrations in Egypt have demanded the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, who has held that office for over 29 years, and in Tunisia, protesters succeeded in chasing President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali out of office, after 23 years of rule.