JERUSALEM - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could be ousted from power as his regime fractures under immense political pressure, the head of Israeli military intelligence said in an interview published Friday.
"His regime's stability is in great danger today, more than in the past. The economic problems will get worse" following Syria's troop pullout from Lebanon completed this week, Aharon Zeevi said in the newspaper Yediot Aharonot.
"He has problems with the Americans because of terrorists infiltrating from Syria into Iraq, water problems with Turkey, and an argument over territory that he should have transferred to Jordan.
"He is seen as a weak leader. I'm not sure that Bashar has the strength or talent to make a decision ... If he does not show leadership, Bashar could certainly become a victim of circumstances," Zeevi said in the interview.
Israel is still technically at war with Syria and continues to occupy the Golan Heights, a strategic territory seized from its northern neighbour during the 1967 Six-Day War.
"People are already saying that perhaps Bashar is not supplying the goods, that perhaps he should be replaced," Zeevi said, warning that Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network "does not intend to sit by and do nothing" as Syria fractures.
He named General Asaf Shaukat, head of intelligence and Assad's brother-in-law, and the president's brother, Maher Assad, as possible leadership contenders.
On the home front, Zeevi said Israeli intelligence services had thwarted "more than 10 terror attacks against Israeli targets abroad" in the past month, without giving further details.
In the last such attack, 34 people, including 13 Israelis, were killed in October when militants carried out bomb attacks in Egypt's Sinai peninsula that is popular with Israeli holidaymakers.
04/29/2005 08:54 GMT