The defection last week of a Syrian general has been hailed by the opposition as a "serious blow" to Bashar Al Assad's regime. It may well be more than that. It may be the start of an exodus, and so the long-awaited first serious crack in the inner core of support for the Assad government.
Manaf Tlass was no ordinary general. He served on the central committee of the ruling Baath party. His father, Mustafa Tlass, served for 30 years as defence minister, faithfully following the orders of Bashar Al Assad and, before that, of his feared father Hafez. Mustafa Tlass now lives in Paris, as does his businessman son Firas. Now Manaf has reportedly joined them there.
The exodus of some of the most important members of this well-placed family is significant for its symbolism. The Tlass family was perhaps the most prominent Sunni element of a tight-knit regime composed mainly of members of Syria's Alawite minority. In a majority Sunni country, the defection will have a powerful effect on the community.
In particular, it will reverberate through the merchant establishment, overwhelmingly Sunni and Christian. It will make many less prominent families ask themselves: "If the Tlass family thinks the regime is finished, what should we now do?"
This thinking will be particularly potent in the Christian community, which has long supported Assad out of fear.
The stability of Assad family rule has rested upon an alliance between the mainly-Alawite military elite and a merchant community. If one pillar totters, the other will be shaken.
The timing of the defection is striking: it fell between a disgracefully useless meeting of expatriate opposition leaders and the weekend's dead-end conference of international Friends of Syria.
Their frustration with Russian and Chinese intransigence was seen in comments from many leaders, notably the UAE's Foreign Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, who asked the gathered Arab and western nations, "When will we stop just watching and talking?" Sheikh Abdullah was calling for a new strategy to deal with Syria.
But now it appears that the decisive blow may be struck from inside Syria. If Gen Tlass's defection causes other influential Sunnis to withdraw support, the end of the Assad regime may come sooner than anyone has imagined.
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Ukraine 2 (Yaremchuk 06', Yarmolenko 27')
Portugal 1 (Ronaldo 72' pen)
Company%20Profile
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Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
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David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
FIRST TEST SCORES
England 458
South Africa 361 & 119 (36.4 overs)
England won by 211 runs and lead series 1-0
Player of the match: Moeen Ali (England)
The 10 Questions
- Is there a God?
- How did it all begin?
- What is inside a black hole?
- Can we predict the future?
- Is time travel possible?
- Will we survive on Earth?
- Is there other intelligent life in the universe?
- Should we colonise space?
- Will artificial intelligence outsmart us?
- How do we shape the future?
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
Dunbar
Edward St Aubyn
Hogarth
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
Five famous companies founded by teens
There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:
- Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate.
- Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
- Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway.
- Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
- Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
SUCCESSION%20SEASON%204%20EPISODE%201
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