Bashar Assad

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President Ahmad al-Jarba, president of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, speaks at the U.S. Institute of Peace, on Wednesday, May 7, 2014, in Washington. Al-Jarba said that rebel forces need weapons that could “neutralize’’ aerial raids by President Bashar Assad’s air force in order to change the balance of power on the ground and pave the way for a political solution to the crisis. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Syrian opposition: Weapons needed to battle Assad

By DEB RIECHMANN - Associated Press

FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013 file citizen journalism image provided by the Local Committee of Arbeen which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, members of the UN investigation team take samples from the ground in the Damascus countryside of Zamalka, Syria. Syrian opposition activists and other witnesses tell The Associated Press that Syrian government forces have attacked rebel-held areas with poisonous chlorine gas in recent months. They say the attacks left scores of men, women and children coughing, choking and gasping for breath. The reports have been denied by the Syrian government and have yet to be confirmed by any foreign country or international organization. But if true, they highlight the limitations of the global effort to rid Syria of its chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Local Committee of Arbeen, File)

Watchdog says Syria must destroy toxic chemicals

By ALBERT AJI and BARBARA SURK - Associated Press

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2014 file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad, hold up his portraits as they march during a demonstration is solidarity with government forces, in the al-Inshaat neighborhood of Homs, Syria. A Syrian lawmaker on Wednesday registered his candidacy for the June 3 presidential election, becoming the first contender in the June 3 vote that will held in the midst of the country’s civil war and has already been dismissed by the West as a farce. President Bashar Assad has suggested he would seek another term in office but has not yet announced his candidacy. (AP Photo/SANA, File)

Activists say Syrian airstrikes in north kill 30

By BARBARA SURK - Associated Press

In this image taken from video obtained from the Shaam News Network, posted on April 18, 2014, an anti-Bashar Assad activist group, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, two women and a young girl are treated by a medic in Kfar Zeita, a rebel-held village in Hama province some 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Damascus. Syrian opposition activists and other witnesses tell The Associated Press that Syrian government forces have attacked rebel-held areas with poisonous chlorine gas in recent months. They say the attacks left scores of men, women and children coughing, choking and gasping for breath. The reports have been denied by the Syrian government and have yet to be confirmed by any foreign country or international organization. But if true, they highlight the limitations of the global effort to rid Syria of its chemical weapons. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network)

Syrian activists accuse Assad of new gas attacks

By ZEINA KARAM and DIAA HADID - Associated Press

In this photo taken on Sunday, April 20, 2014 and released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, center, speaks with Syrian citizens during his visit to Ain al-Tineh village, near Damascus, Syria. Assad visited on Sunday a historic Christian village his forces recently captured from rebels, state media said, as the country's Greek Orthodox Patriarch vowed that Christians in the war-ravaged country "will not submit and yield" to extremists. The rebels, including fighters from the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, took Maaloula several times late last year. (AP Photo/SANA)

Syria to hold presidential election on June 3

By Albert Aji and Diaa Hadid - Associated Press

In this photo taken on Sunday, April 20, 2014, and released on the official Facebook page of the Syrian Presidency, Syrian President Bashar Assad, right, checks a damaged church during his visit to the Christian village of Maaloula, near Damascus, Syria. Assad visited on Sunday a historic Christian village his forces recently captured from rebels, state media said, as the country's Greek Orthodox Patriarch vowed that Christians in the war-ravaged country "will not submit and yield" to extremists. The rebels, including fighters from the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, took Maaloula several times late last year. (AP Photo/Syrian Presidency via Facebook)

French president accuses Syria’s Assad of gassing his own citizens

By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times

New York Times columnist David Brooks said Sunday that he believes President Obama’s foreign policy isn’t “tough enough” and that he has a “manhood problem” when it comes to dealing with leaders like Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad. (NBC News via Think Progress)

NYT’s David Brooks: Obama has ‘manhood problem’ in Middle East

By Jessica Chasmar - The Washington Times

This photo provided by the anti-government activist group Aleppo Media Center (AMC), which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian man carrying the body of a child killed by a government forces airstrike in the Al-Ansari neighborhood, in Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, April 15, 2014. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center, AMC)

Jordanian jets strike vehicles on Syrian border

By OMAR AKOUR and ALBERT AJI - Associated Press

In this photo released on Sunday, April 13, 2014 by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a Syrian forces tank arrives to take position during clashes with Syrian rebels, near the town of Rankous, Syria. The seizure of the villages comes a day after Syrian troops backed by fighters from Lebanon's Shiite militant Hezbollah group captured the nearby town of Rankous. (AP Photo/SANA)

Syrian troops choke off rebels north of Damascus

By ALBERT AJI - Associated Press

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, speaking during a meeting with teachers and higher education students from Damascus University, in Damascus, Syria, Sunday, April 13, 2014. Assad said that there is a "turning point" in the crisis on the military front and with the continuous achievements of the army in the war against "terrorism." (AP Photo/SANA)

Hezbollah-backed Bashar Assad says Syrian war turning in his favor

By Cheryl K. Chumley - The Washington Times

In this Friday, April 11, 2014 image made from amateur video, provided by Shams News Network, a loosely organized anti-Assad group based in and out of Syria that claim not to have any connection to Syrian opposition parties or any other states, and is consistent with independent AP reporting, shows a man as he lies on the floor with an oxygen mask at a hospital room in Kfar Zeita, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Damascus, Syria. Syrian government media and rebel forces said Saturday, April 12, 2014 that poison gas had been used in the village, on Friday injuring scores of people, while blaming each other for the attack. (AP Photo/Shams News Network)

Poison gas claims complicate Syrian civil war

By BASSEM MROUE - Associated Press

Syrian troops capture town near Lebanon border

By ALBERT AJI - Associated Press

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, black smoke and flame rise from the rooftop of a building that was, according to SANA, attacked by a mortar shelled by the Syrian rebels in Damascus, Syria, Saturday April 5, 2014. Al-Qaida's leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, called on fighters to determine who killed his chief representative in Syria, a man many militant groups believe died at the hands of a rival militia, in a move that highlighted a conflict between rebels that has killed hundreds. (AP Photo/SANA)

Mortar fire kills 2 near opera of Syrian capital

By Albert Aji and Diaa Hadid - Associated Press

FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2012 file photo, television personality Kim Kardashian poses for photographers at the red carpet during the 40th anniversary of Cosmopolitan magazine in Spanish in Mexico City. Kim Kardashian has waded into the unlikely waters of Syria's civil war, calling on her supporters to save the ancient Armenian village of Kassab, whose residents fled as rebels seized control of the hamlet in late March, seemingly comparing their flight to the Armenian genocide of the early twentieth century. Her tweet prompted an onslaught of gory images of beheaded men, slain bodies and smashed churches that social media followers incorrectly attributed to the Kassab battle. In doing so, the world's most famous woman of Armenian descent, underscored how Syria's war, more than any other in history, has been waged on the internet. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

Kim Kardashian wades into Syria war debate

By DIAA HADID - Associated Press

Syrian President Bashar Assad talking with soldiers with during Syrian Arab Army day in Darya, Syria. (AP Photo/Syrian Presidency via Facebook, File)

Syria’s Assad plans run for third term despite raging civil war, 140K deaths

Associated Press

In this photo taken Thursday, March 27, 2014, Syrian government soldiers take position during clashes with rebels in Misherfeh town in the province of Latakia, Syria. Syrian forces on Thursday bombarded rebel positions with artillery and warplanes in the Mediterranean coastal province of Latakia, trying to push back opposition fighters who over the past week made rare territorial gains in President Bashar Assad's ancestral heartland. (AP Photo)

Syrian-Armenian town’s fate murky after rebel grab

By Albert Aji and Diaa Hadid - Associated Press

Obama meets with Saudi king, weighs new Syria aid

By Jim Kuhnhenn and Julie Pace - Associated Press

Residence buildings look by the Mediterranean coastline of the Latakia governorate, Syria, Wednesday, March 26, 2014. Syrian rebels pressed their offensive deeper into the coastal heartland of President Bashar Assad's Alawite sect on Wednesday, battling government troops backed by warplanes for control of at least two villages in the heavily wooded and mountainous terrain, activists said. Rebels were battling government troops in the Latakia villages of Qastal Maaf and Nabaain, activists said. (AP Photo)

Activists: Syrian warplanes bomb rebels in Latakia

By ALBERT AJI and BARBARA SURK - Associated Press

In this Monday, March 24, 2014 photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian soldiers carry the coffin of the commander of the pro-government National Defense Forces Hilal Assad, during his funeral at a hospital in Latakia province, Syria. State TV reported late Sunday that Hilal Assad was killed in the fighting against opposition fighters in Kassab. The commander was a member of Syrian President Bashar Assad's family but the TV did not say if they were close relatives. (AP Photo/SANA)

Syrian rebels battle deeper into coastal province

By ALBERT AJI - Associated Press

This Sunday, March 23, 2014 image taken from video obtained by the anti-government activist group Shaam News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows a Syrian fighter holding his weapon after seizing the predominantly Armenian Christian town of Kassab, Syria. The rebels, including militants from the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, have also wrested control of a nearby border crossing to Turkey. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via AP video)

Syrian rebels capture town near Turkish border

By RYAN LUCAS - Associated Press