Syrian official's YouTube resignation: was it coerced? (VIDEO)

When Syria’s two closest allies in the world – Iran and Hizbullah – publicly acknowledge that the problems in Syria are deep and cannot be resolved by current hard security measures, this is a monumental signal that Syria is in deep trouble.

The international criticism is happening alongside increased organization within Syria's opposition.

Business community's loyalty wanes

Another critical source of support for Assad has been Syria's businessmen, who have remained loyal through several rounds of sanctions on the country.

However, The Financial Times reports from Damascus that their steadfast support could be at its breaking point with the European embargo on Syrian oil imports expected to begin later this week. (The blog Syria Comment posted the full content of the article, typically behind a paywall, here.)

Syrian businessmen say that could spell disaster for their businesses and the Syrian economy, already on its knees after five months of protests and violence.

“The effect of sanctions will be dramatic,” says one leading business figure in Damascus. “Business is already basically zero; this is just going to mean a slow death for the economy.”

Another person in the business services sector agrees, arguing that relations with Syria’s biggest trading partner are crucial. “[Syrian allies] Russia and China are no substitute for the EU,” he says. “Losing it will be disastrous.”

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No member of the business elite has publicly denounced the regime. But while the elite is regarded as a crucial pillar of support for Bashar al-Assad, the president, there are signs it is becoming increasingly sympathetic to the protesters’ cause.

The business community is beginning to blame the regime for their misfortune, despite the regime's efforts to direct their anger toward the US and Europe.

“The regime has sacrificed the economy for its own survival,” one businessman interviewed by the Financial Times said.

Mr. Khouri writes that the Syrian government has squandered the formerly steadfast support of groups like the business community and Army and remaining support is no longer borne of loyalty, but fear.

The problem that Assad and his system now face is that he has wasted much of that support and legitimacy, and is now ‘strong’ in a very different and much more vulnerable manner. The Syrian regime is strong now in the same way that a company of soldiers is strong when grouped together in a fortified camp that is totally encircled by hostile forces. The regime still has decisive leaders, many security services, a core political/demographic base of support at home, plenty of tanks and ammunition, billions of dollars of money, and tens of thousands of foot soldiers. All these assets, however, are bunched into an increasingly smaller and smaller space, with fewer and fewer regional or international connections of any sort, and are confronting mass popular rallies that steadily grow in frequency, size, bravado, and political intensity around the country. Using battlefield tanks to kill your own civilians inside cities is not a sign of strength, but rather of savagery born of desperation.

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