The Assad regime’s internal crisis took another brutal turn Tuesday, Aug. 9 when the former Syrian Defense Minister Ali Habib was found dead hours after President Bashar Assad sacked him. debkafile‘s military sources report exclusively that the 72-year old general, a long associate of the Assad clan, died of gunshots from automatic weapons in the hands of the president’s henchmen. First Syrian reports claimed General Habib died by his own hand after being replaced by the chief of staff, Gen. Daoud Rajha. Our sources report that his death was the result of the internal power struggle raging in the top military command between commanders calling for a coup to remove Bashar Assad, a faction demanding to first end to the savage crackdown on protest, and factions with unclear motives.
Unexplained indications of disputes between the high command in Damascus and division commanders in the field surfaced in the last two days along with the tank onslaught on the eastern town of Deir al-Zour.
It now looks as though the generals were busier in their infighting than in subduing the popular uprising. Assad suspected Gen. Ali Habib of conniving with the officers plotting a mutiny against him and therefore had him removed and put to death.
WarSclerotic 
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