FILE - In this file photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA on July 19, 2012, Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, meets with Fahd Jassem al-Freij, Syria's new Defense Minister, in Damascus, Syria. Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime received last week the worst blow since the country's crisis began 17 months ago in what many thought would quickly bring the Assad family four-decade dynasty to an end but the government appears to have absorbed the shock of the explosion that killed four top security officials and it's on the offensive again. (AP Photo/SANA, File)
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