It now seems likely Assad will win in Syria. The people of Syria now overwhelming support Assad. It’s better to be ruled by a secular thug than a religious fanatic ultra-thug, I suppose.  As for what is coming, it will probably be Hama Rules AKA No Mercy.
[In 1982] the President of Syria, Hafez al-Assad, put down a Muslim Brotherhood uprising in Hama by bulldozing the city. No one knows how many died; estimates vary between ten thousand and forty thousand. Assad’s message was simple: mess with this regime and we will bury you all. Thomas Friedman called it “Hama Rules.”
Of course, the leveling of Hama inexorably created the next attack against the government, this time against his son.