Is Bashar al-Assad nearly finished?

The Syrian president's army fights on, but his allies appear to be preparing for the end of his reign

Pictures of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad burn
(Image credit: REUTERS/Zain Karam)

Syria's United Nations ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, told U.N. leaders in letters circulated Monday that opposition fighters might use chemical weapons against civilians, and try to blame the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. American officials, on the other hand, have said that intelligence sources suggest that Assad's military is getting so desperate that it's preparing deadly sarin gas for possible use against rebels — just one of a growing number of indications that Assad's grip on power is slipping. President Obama, who last week recognized a new opposition coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, has said that it would be "totally unacceptable" for the Syrian regime to use chemical weapons, and that, if it did, world powers would reconsider whether to use force to topple Assad. Here, four other recent signs that Syria's embattled leader might be on the verge of losing power in the face of an uprising that began 20 months ago, and has cost an estimated 40,000 lives:

1. Assad's vice president is talking about a post-Assad Syria

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.