A Closer Look at the Assad Regime
![](https://media.wnyc.org/i/800/0/c/85/photologue/photos/138479674.jpg)
A Syrian pro-government supporter holds up a sign as a convoy carrying Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov heads towards the presidential palace in Damascus on February 7, 2012.
( LOUAI BESHARA / Getty )
( LOUAI BESHARA / Getty )