Assad told Cumhuriyet that Turkish PM Recep Erdogan's sectarianism strained the two leaders' relations [Reuters]
Facing Diplomatic Isolation, Syria’s Assad Says He’s Willing To Step Aside -- McClatchy News
ISTANBUL — After losing his most important supporters outside Syria, President Bashar al Assad said his office “doesn’t mean anything to me” and he’s willing to give up it up, though preferably after national elections.
“If the president’s departure is in the interest of Syria, the president should naturally go. This is self-evident,” he told the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet. “You should never stay in office one day if the people do not want you; and the elections are the means through which the people show whether they want you or not.”
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My Comment: I am very skeptical that he is sincere in "stepping aside". To begin with .... where would he go? He cannot stay in Syria .... too much blood has already been shed. If there is a country that will accept him .... it will probably be Iran .... but and I suspect that they would be doing it reluctantly. On top of that .... I doubt that his wife would entertain the idea of spending the rest of her life living in some Iranian version of a burka.This is a fight to the finish .... and it will end when Assad is either killed .... or he takes that last plane out of Damascus to Iran.