Next year sees the 30th anniversary of the Hama massacre, when Syria’s president Hafez al-Assad used his army to crush a Sunni Muslim revolt. Ten thousand people died in what has been described as the “single deadliest act” by any Arab government against its own people. The decision of Hafez’s son Bashar to send tanks into Dera’a – where the current anti-government unrest began five weeks ago – was clearly designed to send a brutal signal to insurgents that he has reverted to family type. More than 100 protesters were killed on Good Friday; the assault on Dera’a has cost the lives of dozens more. The ruler who once depicted himself as a reformer has evidently concluded that it is the iron fist that is the most effective response to popular dissent.”

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