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Bashar al-Assad.

Assad, which is why he has triumphed with the overwhelming majority of the votes in each election despite constitutional term limits for the office of the presidency that, in theory, should have forced him to step down years ago. Assad’s brutality in putting down opposition to his rule led directly to the outbreak of violence. His secret police have the authority to arrest and hold any Syrian citizen suspected of har- boring anti-government beliefs.What’s more, it is believed that he operates many torture chambers throughout Syria, disguised as prisons, in which he extracts confessions and punishes those who disagree with his right to rule the country as a one-man power. Like many dictatorships, Assad and the Ba’ath Party control all aspects of the state, including the media: No criticism of his power is tolerated in any major Syrian newspaper. Today, much of Syria remains in a state of open conflict. The various forces opposed toAssad’s rule fight his military throughout the country. Some of these rebel groups are allied to each other, whereas others are just as great an enemy to each other as they are to the government itself.The influence of foreign powers, including Russia and the United States, has spread and intensified the war,

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