ESCALATION IN SYRIA – AT 7:51 A.M. ET:  There has been a dramatic escalation of the conflict in Syria, one that can have serious implications:

(Reuters) - Syria's defense minister and President Bashar al-Assad's brother in-law were killed in a suicide bomb attack in Damascus on Wednesday, in the most serious blow to Assad's high command in a 16-month-old revolt.

It was not clear whether Assad himself was present when a suicide bomber, said by a security source to be a bodyguard assigned to Assad's inner circle, struck a security meeting in the Syrian capital as battles raged within sight of the presidential palace.

State television said Defence Minister Daoud Rajha and Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat were killed in a "terrorist bombing".

A Syrian security source confirmed Shawkat, 62, was killed and said Intelligence chief Hisham Bekhtyar was wounded. State television said Interior Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shaar had also been wounded in the blast.

The attack took place on a fourth day of fighting in the capital, where rebels from outside the city have brought the fight to end four decades of rule by the Assad family close to the power base of the ruling elite for the first time.

For you history buffs, doesn't this have a chilling resemblance to the "July 20th plot" against Adolf Hitler in 1944, in which a bomb was set off in a room where Hitler was meeting?  Hitler survived, of course, and there are obvious differences, but it just reminded me of that.

We learn from other sources that there is serious fighting in Damascus, and that many are trying to flee the city.  There is deep concern among military experts that Assad, perhaps facing his final days, and perhaps even trapped in Damascus, will flail out, ordering attacks against Israel and possibly Arab countries, or even American assets in the region.  These attacks could be made by missiles equipped with chemical warheads. 

And there is Iran, Syria's closest ally, which values the Assad connection.  Will Iran now move in to save the Assad regime?

And let us not neglect to mention Vladimir Putin, who sees Syria as Russia's closest friend in the Mideast.  Barack Obama "reset" relations with Russia when he took office, but the reset button keeps popping out. 

Obama runs his administration according to a political schedule.  Everything seems based on the election.  He clearly has hoped that he could reach November without an international crisis, which may actually require him to do something besides campaign.  He may not get his wish.

July 18,  2012