No end in sight for SyriaThere is also a review of Thomas Pierret's Revolution and State In Syria, but that bit is hidden behind the paywall.
"In displaying contempt for his people, their self-esteem and their demands, the President was setting the pattern for the regime’s response to the uprising.
The result thus far of this brazen refusal to compromise has been the loss of an estimated 160,000 lives and the ascendance of jihadist Islam in large areas of what was a staunchly secular state. The appearance and success of the Islamists, Raphaël Lefèvre explains in Ashes of Hama: The Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, is attributable in part to the policies of the Assad regime itself – first under Hafez al-Assad and then his son Bashar. In a compact and compelling account, the author describes in detail the build-up to an Islamist uprising in the city of Hama in February 1982. The regime’s draconian response, in a foretaste of events after 2011, left tens of thousands of people dead and areas of the city flattened."