I remember when my mom saw his photo on my PC , she asked me "Was not that Saddam's Son in law who betrayed him , ran away to Jordan and Saddam killed him ?? " I told her "No , this guy is 
the brother in law of Basher Al Assad ; Assef Shawqat , the head of the Military intelligence in Syria " Mama Said "oh; OK but he looked so similar like him !! "
I remember this short conservation when the news came about this dangerous rumour saying the following :
Assef Shawqat was arrested in Damascus and detained in some secret place after knowing his plans to lead a coup against his brothers in law Bashar and Maher backed up by the United States and Saudi Arabia ; and that his wife Bashar's eldest sister Dr.Bushra ran away with her kids from Syria , some said to Paris and some said to Gulf State.
It did not stop at here but it goes on :
The Coup plot was discovered by the Iranian intelligence and they informed their man Emad Mughniyeh about it .Emad went directly to Damascus to inform Basher that the man he trusted was actually stabbing him in the back in the most critical time . Assef thanks to his sensitive position knew in advance what Hajj Radwan was coming for and so some how he got rid from him with the help of the Saudi Embassy . someone gave Emad a date in the Iranian school and big boom the Hajj became a real legend and the little dirty secret was thought to be safe but with the Syrian-Iranian investigation the truth appeared in the end. It was reported form some Iranian News agency that the Syrian authorities arrested a Saudi diplomat in Emad's assassination case and through that diplomat they knew about the little conspiracy between Assef and the West !!! There was "and is" a huge diplomatic crisis between KSA and Syria and Kuwait "yes Kuwait" had to mediate between them !!
This middle Eastern 1960s conspiracy story is based upon two interesting facts Basher appointed another man in Assef's position and the Prince of Kuwait visited Damascus from short time ago. The story was strong , it was popular among some opposition Syrian Websites and blogs but not all of them, the Saudi and Lebanese Websites of course spoke about it as real thing. The rumour was strengthened by the official silence from Syria ,no confirmation nor denial at all. This silence means in the middle East confirmation.
Some Websites said that he would be the scapegoat in the Hariri tribunal by the way , yes but no one paid attention to this assumption , that the regime in Syria detained him for this reason without any conspiracies involved in the case.
People in the Arab world began to believe this rumour because in the Arab world and in Syria specifically similar attempts had happened before . Syria throughout the 20th century saw coup attempts more than any Arab country , before the Al-Assad last coup in 1971 Syrians had seen too presidents and cabinets to recall.
We should not forget also dictatorship regimes based on family rule from time to time have their share from family conflicts ,those people want power and rule more what they have already ; so they may lead a coup as against the leader of the family which in their case the president of the country despite that they already occupy very important and powerful positions and consider as the pillars of that regime; still their greed for power,influence and money make them think that they deserve and should work for the Presidency.They may even collaborate with the devil for his promises; the enemies of the regime whether internally or externally only to get 
to the chair. Before I re-mention the example of Hussein and Saddam Kamel of Iraq , I will remind with a famous example from Syria and from the Al-Assad dynasty; Rafaat Al-Assad and his coup attempt against his brother , this mini-war between the two brothers on the throne that ended with the Hafiz's victory and the escape of Rafaat to Europe. Rafaat was Hafiz's brother and he was from the pillars of his dictatorship regime , his name was really fearful and hateful till this moment in Syria still with all the powers he had , he envied his brother for presidency that even after his brother's death, he is still seeking it !! So it will not be big surprise to find Assef is double crossing his in laws.
Unfortunately for those who want to see trouble in Al-Assad dynasty paradise , this rumour turned to be a rumour . The Egyptian Journalists stopped the speculations and called directly the Syrian Ambassador in Egypt asking him about it and the first official respond came in Cairo as "This was total rumour from the beginning till the ending"
The second respond was the most powerful one , a visual evidence that no one can easily suspect ; Assef Shawqat made an appearance in some military event aired over and over in the Syrian TV to deny the rumour.
After that no one is speaking about this nice rumour again.
To tell you the truth this rumour disturbed me because it made me feel that Syria is moving fast to become the next Iraq in the region , America wants to make Lebanon the Kuwait of Syria and they succeeded some how in aliening it from its old powerful ally that gave it power all those Years Egypt , for me if Syria falls then Egypt will fall , it is in history book and you check it .
But I could not believe it easily because what I know about Bushra Al Assad and her husband is that they are so powerful , first of all you 
must know that Abd El-Halim Khaddam left Syria because of Assef , Assef and Maher Al-Assad now are the one who really control Syria , Syria is like Egypt , Control the army and you will control the country.Assef already America can't depend upon because they already categorized as terrorist and his bank accounts outside were freezed, his name was mentioned in Al Hariri case and so if he escaped and played the role of the innocent people will not believe him just like Khaddam. Bushra in Syria is not like Ragad or Rana Saddam Hussein , she is called the "Iron Woman" , the daddy' girl and eldest daughter of Hafiz Al Assad who convinced him to accept Assef as son in law despite his modest background. Dr.Bushra is said to be from the top corruption icons in her time, also the Al-Assad family after Rafaat's coup seems to be holding together,so I do not think that she would easily turn against her brother and family because what more she can get after all that !!??
The real alert here is that the United States administration is working too hard to change the regime to a Pro-American , the danger is that Syria can be on its way to become the next Iraq , then it will be us.
You will be surprised to know that before this rumour I was just wondering what happened to the Syrians who they used to have many coups day and night !!??
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