Newsnight: Bashar al-Assad is not the one really in control of Syria, claims cousin
BASHAR al-Assad is not the one in control of Syria and the regime is led by people behind the scenes, according to his cousin speaking on Newsnight tonight.
Ribal al-Assad said the secret service, the military and the ruling Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party are truly responsible for the actions of the regime.
The relative of Assad added Bashar is unlikely to step away from the Syrian Presidency without further deaths and fighting.
Newsnight host Jeremy Paxman asked Ribal if he could see any circumstances under which Bashar would leave office without more bloodshed.
Ribal, from the Organisation for Democracy & Freedom in Syria, said: "If he was to go he would have gone from the beginning and not waited until to now.
"Now I think it is very difficult. He cannot go and will not be allowed to leave even if he wanted to."
Ribal explained that his cousin has not built the current regime but instead inherited it from his father Hafez al-Assad.
He claims those behind the scenes who are linked to Hafez are the ones who are truly sustaining it.
He said: "Bashar Assad is not his father, he did not build the regime he inherited it.
"He people around his father are the ones sustaining, the Baath party the generals in the secret service and military, they are the ones who are really in control.
"A lot of people think it is a one man show - Bashar will always be held responsible because he is President of the Republic but behind the scenes the people who really control everything are the security apparatus, the military and the people in the Baath party."
The Syria civil war has resulted in 100,000 deaths and led to over half a million people becoming refugees.
