AFP, Washington, 9 March 2012 – The United States on Friday compared the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to a ‘mafia family’ and urged its supporters to ‘think twice’ before obeying orders to kill innocent people.
‘Under Assad, political power in Syria is exercised by a mafia-like crime family, not by a parliament, not by parties, not by a cabinet,’ US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father Hafez in 2000, and his brother Maher al-Assad has been accused by the opposition of being the main architect of the regime’s crackdown.
If the Assads resemble a mafia family, ‘who is the godfather here?’ a journalist asked.
Nuland replied: ‘I’m not going to dissect the insides of this family except that he is the president of the country. He bears full responsibility.’
She blamed him for the violence that the opposition says has claimed the lives of 8,500 people in one year.
She said regime, military and business leaders who are still ‘supporting this family, that are still obeying orders to kill innocent people need to think twice about what they’re doing… and make a different decision.’