Syria: A Decade of Lost Chances: Repression and Revolution from Demascus Spring to Arab Spring

When Arab Spring swept the region, Syria's President Bashar al-Asad thought that he was safe. Over the previous five years, the moderate opposition had been crushed. Unlike Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, and Libya, Syria had taken an anti-US stance since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Syrians were used to living under sanctions and being called "terrorists." Asad told movie stars Brad and Angelina when they visited Damascus that he did not need personal security, because ordinary Syrians were pro...