An Unpredictable Syrian Assad Family Soap Opera!
November 4, 2005
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
“The world is a stage, and we are but the players thereon” is an oft quoted phrase. And the gigantic Middle East stage is covered by actors playing a great game of deceit. The terrorist offices are supposedly in the process of being scattered here and there, but as I mentioned in the previous BLOG, the heart of their offices will remain sprinkled across Syria in apartments and houses until hell freezes. The current stage play is in response to the international heat Syria is taking over the well known assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri. The terrorist groups may announce they are shifting their headquarters to Egypt, the Sinai, Iran, or Truth-Or-Consequences, New Mexico, but I assure you their strategic location next to Hizballah Shiite terrorists in Lebanon is far too valuable to abandon.
They will maintain the centers of command in Syria, attempting to keep them as concealed as possible.
The future Islamic Jihad attack against Israel will not come directly from the east, south, or west – it will definitely come from the north, and that is why they will maintain the terror
ist group headquarters there, even if they take an oath they have removed them. (Please consult our Archive Prophecy Updates 71 through 75).
It might be in order to discuss the “big four” that govern in Syria today. Hafez al-Assad, the strong man dictator over Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000, had four children: three sons, Basil, Bashar, and Maher; and one daughter, Bushra. The soap opera begins with Bushra falling in love with a divorced man with five children, one Asef Shawkat.
The plot thickens as both her father Hafez and older brother Basil violently oppose her marrying Asef. The serial saddens as Basil dies in a vehicle accident linked to drug traffic in Lebanon.
And, after his death in 1994, Bushra and Asef elope, and Hafez does not have him killed.
He may be the only man who ever stood up to Hafez and was not thrown into prison or killed. The couple stayed together, and Asef Shawket became second in power only to Hafez. When the soap opera patriarch Hafez died in 1971, the power shifting began among the star players, and developed into the tight little circle of the four Assad guild players Bashar, Asef, Bushra, and Maher. There is a growing question in Syria as to who really makes most of the decisions in government, Bashar or his brother-in-law Asef.
The introduction of assassination, into the latest stage play episode of the Syrian soap opera, introduced the former Lebanese Prime Minister, whose assassination is now the subject of a major UN investigation.
The investigators have a witness who claims Shawkat helped plan the killing and held the final planning session in his Damascus home.
The latest episode in this saga is continuing, and we may not be far away from a curtain call. The real question is this – can or will Bashar deliver his brother-in-law Shawkat to be questioned by investigators, and can or will he deliver him to an international court if the investigators find he was involved in the assassination
? Shawkat is an Alawite, the religious minority that has held power since Hafez rose to power in 1967, and he has been the head of Syrian military intelligence since last February. If Bashar were assassinated by persons unknown, I have little doubt that Shawkat would immediately take control of the governmental structure in Syria.
How long could he hold off the Sunnis and Shiites? Probably not very long!
Most Sunnis and Shiites do not consider the Alawites to be a part of the Islamic faith. And the Alawites compose less than 13 percent of the Syrian population.
Bashar is now facing a UN Security Council Resolution ordering Syria to fully cooperate in the continuing investigation. Bashar will have to decide if he will send Shawkat abroad for questioning, with anticipation of him being tried if the evidence supports it.
Even though Bashar’s younger brother Maher Assad is the head of the Presidential Guard, Shawkat’s intelligence forces daily contact the life of Bashar, and they are loyal to Shawkat. It is a time of plotting, maneuvering, and political intrigue in Syria.
I am not sure which way, and in how many directions, the winds of change will blow, but I do know it is an explosive situation, which cannot go on in its present status quo – something has to change! Shawkat is the strong man of strong men in Syria, and certainly worth watching. The next 14 months may see the replacement of Bashar Assad by a new leader. He in turn may be replaced by another ris
ing star. Once the 35 year old dam built by Hafez Assad develops a crack it will break, and suddenly flood Syria with mass confusion.
The last strongman who finally ends the time of confusion may be the antichrist.