Reuters: Assad's associates in Moscow are planning an uprising in Syria

Allies of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are spending millions of dollars in hopes of starting a rebellion against the current Syrian authorities, Reuters writes on December 5.

According to the agency, former intelligence chief Camille Hassan and Assad's cousin Rami Makhlouf are sponsoring a total of about 50,000 Alawite fighters in the hope of winning their loyalty. Their goal is to take control of underground command posts on the Syrian coast and weapons caches. At the same time, Hassan and Makhlouf conduct their activities independently and are at enmity with each other.

According to Reuters, the new Syrian authorities are aware of these plans. To fight them, they recruited another former high-ranking military officer in Assad’s army, Khaled al-Ahmad. His task is to convince the Alawites to build relations with the new authorities.

Assad himself, according to the agency, “has generally come to terms with life in Moscow” and has no plans to return to Syria.

• The regime of Bashar al-Assad was overthrown a year ago. The former president fled to Russia, where he received asylum. The new Syrian authorities are asking for his extradition, but Moscow does not agree to this.
• Alawites, who make up only 10% of Syria's population, were the dominant force under Assad's rule (he himself is an Alawite). In March, shortly after the new government came to power, an uprising began in the provinces inhabited by Alawites. It was brutally suppressed, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people.