Who can bring down Syria?

• The World Policy Conference, organized by the French Institute of International Relations in Vienna, has turned into an anti-Syrian show. After Prince Turki al-Faisal’s bellicose speech, Ehud Barak predicted the imminent fall of Bashar al-Assad.

• But no analyst currently foresees a credible regime-change scenario without foreign military intervention.

• At the annual policy summit of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, Republican and Democratic leaders stressed that Syria’s defeat is a precondition for a war against Iran. They also reaffirmed that Syria is so strong that such a war couldn’t be farmed out by the United States to Europe or the Gulf Cooperation Council.

• In an interview with Der Spiegel, Burhan Ghalioun reiterated that the Free Syrian Army must remain in a defensive role. He said that if he accedes to power, he will not hunt down Baath party members like Paul Bremer did in Iraq. Finally, he said that when it comes to Israel, new Syria will back the Saudi peace initiative.