Syrian rebels strike at heart of regime

Tension: journalists wait at al-Rawda Square, near the national security building in Damascus, after a suicide bomb attack

REUTERS/SCANPIX

By VAHE PETROSSIAN London

 19 July 2012 22:59 GMT

SYRIAN rebels took the war to Damascus this week, hitting at the heart of the security apparatus and raising questions over the future of the Assad regime.

The latest developments introduce greater uncertainty into the oil-rich Middle East, but may encourage lower crude prices because the prospect of an early fall of the Assad regime will be seen to be boosting the strategic position of pro-Western oil producers such as Saudi Arabia and weakening that of more hardline producers such as Iran, which has supported Assad for much of the past year.

Syria itself is a minor oil producer, pumping at up to 300,000 barrels per day before the civil war.

In what could be a fatal blow to the…

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