totalaryn regime and all orders come from president assad. translator: in 2003 after the american invasion of iraq and the toppling of the regime the syrian regime felt threatened so they coordinate would al qaeda and had an agreement to keep the road open to iraq so militants started coming all over the world through syrian. al qaeda was an ally of assad after 2003 and built safe havens for al qaeda to hide in. i remember one of those safe havens. the americans raided it in 2008 and captured prisoners. this was a hiding place for al qaeda on the border with iraq. it was under the control of a brother-in-law of the president. who is making the decisions in damascus right now? who is directing the syrian government policy facing this uprising translator: the regime in syria is a totaltar yn regime and a dictatorship. there is only one person who gives the orders, one person who is the president. the rest of the regime personnel are people who only obey. does the syrian