Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has consolidated his grip on security forces and delayed political reforms in anticipation of a long standoff with the United States, diplomats and Baath Party sources say. They predict that the United States will keep pressing Syria to change its policy rather than try to topple Assad, citing the weakness of the Syrian opposition and US aversion to any more regional instability after the upheaval in Iraq. Their views contrast markedly with speculation that abounded last year of a US-engineered “regime change” following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which a UN inquiry linked to Syrian officials. Syria denied involvement, but came under intense international pressure and was forced to end its 29-year military presence in neighbouring Lebanon.