Assad, or We Burn the Country ― How One Family's Lust for Power Destroyed Syria

The definitive account of the destruction of Syria from inside the palace of President Bashar al-Assad, offering a new way of understanding the conflict that has engulfed the Middle East and pitted the United States against Russia

In the spring of 2011, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad turned to his lifelong friend and the commander of the presidential guard, Manaf Tlass, for advice about how to respond to violent protests. Tlass urged Assad to make peace with the people, but Assad chose to launch a bloody crackdown on the protestors, the opening volley in a six year war that has killed more than half a million people and fueled a global refugee crisis. In this expertly reported examination of the man at the center of the worst humanitarian disaster of the 21st century, noted journalist Sam Dagher offers a new way to understand how a regional conflict has found itself at the center of the US-Russia standoff and led to increased xenophobia, hate crimes, and terror attacks around the world.

Though this conflict is global in scale, at its crux is the relationship between Assad and Tlass--born into friendship through their fathers--schoolmates, and close confidants. ASSAD, OR WE BURN THE COUNTRY charts the course of the Syrian war through the untold story of these two men, once as close as brothers, now set in opposition by conflicting visions for their country, and will examine the consequences of their choices for their families, Syria, and the world.

Sam Dagher has reported in the Middle East for more than twelve years. He was the only Western reporter based in Damascus from 2012 to 2014, until being detained by Assad's henchmen in an underground prison and expelled for reporting deemed unfavorable to the regime. He has worked for the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and Agence France Presse, and has covered the conflict in Iraq, the Arab Spring uprisings, and Libya. The Wall Street Journal dominated Dagher's work from Syria for the Pulitzer Prize and other journalism awards.