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31 Jan, 2012 11:37

Assad will die like Gaddafi – Syrian opposition

A leading member of the Syrian opposition has threatened President Assad, his British wife and three children with a bloody Gaddafi-esque end. Meanwhile, the West continues to push for a resolution to help the Syrian opposition oust Assad.

Haitham Maleh, a founding member of the executive committee of the Syrian National Council, made the shocking comment in an interview with The Telegraph newspaper. He declared that as soon as Assad’s regime falls, the opposition will have its way with him."Assad and his family will be killed in Syria. Their next steps will be very bloody," he said. "Two months ago we offered him the option to leave us alone and go, but instead he went for the blood of his people. The end for him will be that he is killed like Gaddafi."Yet Mr Maleh’s call for a gruesome death for President Assad and his wife and children has thus far met with a wall of silence – despite the invocation of the summary execution of the late Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi, whose son also met a violent death during the  NATO-backed conflict.“We came, we saw, he died," joked Hillary Clinton after Gaddafi’s death. It now looks very much as if the scenario is repeating itself, with Clinton saying the US will throw its weight behind the Arab-backed condemnation of Assad's regime, which she said was brutally blocking the country's hopes of peacefully transitioning to democracy.Maleh’s comments give cause for great concern about what form democracy may take in SNC-ruled Syria.While Russia tries to broker peace talks between the Syrian government and the opposition, Maleh casually dismisses its efforts, saying the talks will not materialize. “How can we have dialogue with a criminal regime? We can't do it now," he told The Telegraph. "The game is over. How can we talk with a person who has put a pistol to our heads. It is impossible to make dialogue with this person.”There have been numerous reports of Bashar al-Assad’s wife and other family members making attempts to leave the embattled country, but being ambushed en route to the airport by opposition forces who forced them to turn around. Now, it seems, Assad’s family is on the opposition’s hit-list.The next attempt might prove to be fatal. Asma Assad grew up in the UK and her friends say they are sure she is repulsed by the violence currently gripping Syria. "She would be horrified with what is happening," said Malik al-Abdeh, a TV magnate speaking to The Times. "She lived most of her life here. Her ethics and morality were formed here. I think she must be genuinely shocked."However her pro-Western views are no longer of any importance. It seems all the opposition wants now is revenge.

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