Sanctions bite in Syria as oil giant Shell pulls out

BEIRUT - Royal Dutch Shell said on Friday it would cease operations in Syria to heed new European Union sanctions against Damascus, deepening the international isolation of President Bashar al-Assad imposed over his violent crackdown on popular unrest.

In the latest bloodshed, Syrian army defectors killed eight Air Force intelligence personnel in an attack on their base in the north of the country, according to an opposition group.

He certainly has means at his disposal to cause a real mess if he wanted to. Lots of IRBMs that he could target Israel, Turkey or Jordan with. A couple decent divisions of armor to send into the Bekka, etc

Of course, he could just walk away from it all as well, catch a bullet in the head or be on the wrong end of a military coup

From the Saudi Gazette.....

Assad opponents join hands

ISTANBUL – Syria’s civilian opposition and army rebels have agreed to coordinate their struggle against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, an official said Thursday.
The first meeting between the Syrian National Council and the Free Syrian Army earlier this week in Turkey appeared to mark a change of tack from the SNC’s previous reluctance to back the armed struggle.
“It is agreed that it would be a coordinated movement, there would be coordination,” the SNC’s Khaled Khoja told AFP.
He said the meeting in the southern Turkish province of Hatay on November 28 was attended by SNC head Burhan Ghaliun and FSA chief Riyadh al-Asaad, whose forces comprise deserters from the Syrian military.
“The council recognised the Free Syrian Army as a reality, while the army recognised the council as the political representative” of the opposition, Khoja said.
He did not specify how organic the links between the two movements would be but the meeting marked a new step in efforts to unite opposition to Assad, who is under growing pressure to step down.
The repression by the Syrian regime led by President Assadf of pro-democracy protests in recent months has earned Damascus a barrage of international condemnation and intensifying economic sanctions that are slowly crippling the country’s economy. –

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