Events are in the Saddle

Assuming this is true, it could get really interesting:

There have been serious demonstrations against the Assad regime all over the country for weeks now, with near-zero coverage. Yet, from the standpoint of American interests, this is way more important than Libya, since Syria is a vital cog in the Iranian-led war against us.

That's the opinion of Michael Ledeen, who is one of the more astute observers of events in the Middle East and beyond. Syria is pretty much the Keyser Sose of the region, with a hand in just about everything that goes on. The thing about the Assad regime is that Bashir Assad, like his father, is an Alawite, an minority offshoot sect that is considered heretical by some Muslims, so he has had to maintain power by force alone. Assad's father was an especially brutal man who thought nothing of wiping out entire villages when it suited his purposes. Things could change quickly if the protests in Syria start to gain traction.