'A Syrian Tale: Passion, Power, Assassination'

article by MICHAEL SLACKMAN and KATHERINE ZOEPF here.

 

DAMASCUS, Syria, Nov. 2 - It was a love story that captured the imagination of many Syrians: a man and a woman defied her father, eloped and lived happily ever after. But for many people it was not the romance that made the story compelling, it was how the tale spoke to power.

 

The woman was Bushra al-Assad, the daughter of President Hafez al-Assad, and the man, Asef Shawkat, was to become Syria's head of military intelligence.