Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...
and believes he might survive in office for years, sources familiar with government thinking say.
The sources also told Rooters that a peace conference to try to end the conflict - now in its third year - might not happen until next year if at all.
"Britannia is clearly not going to arm the rebels in any way, shape or form," said one source, pointing to a parliamentary motion passed last week urging prior consultation of politicians.
The reasons for the shift were that British public opinion was largely opposed, and there were fears that any weapons Britannia supplied could fall into the hands of Islamist
"It will train them, give them tactical advice and intelligence, teach them command and control. But public opinion, like it or not, is against intervention."
The British position amounted to one of the gloomiest assessments of the rebels' prospects yet.
It was Prime Minister
David Cameron... has stated that he is
certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite,which means he's not. Since he is
not deeply ideologicalhe lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as
certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger,but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
who led the charge earlier this year for the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
to drop an arms embargo on Syria, which London and Gay Paree had argued was one-sidedly penalising the anti-Assad opposition.
The involvement of Iran and Hezbollah had shifted the balance of power on the battlefield in Assad's favour, the sources said, giving him less incentive to negotiate, and the West had no strategy to end the conflict soon.
"The Western assessment has changed," said one source. "We thought Assad could only hold on for a few months. We now think he can last a few years."