What remain of the Assad clan are the face represented by Baschar al-Assad, the muscle represented by his brother Maher al-Assad, and the brain represented by Mohammad Nassif Kheir Bek (MNKB).
To debilitate further the regime and hamper its maneuverability, it is necessary to deactivate the brain. The purging of Mohammad Nassif Kheir Bek may yield a different Assad stance and it’s worth pursuing. MNKB has solid intelligence connections with the west so there may be reluctance on the part of some intelligence agencies to purge an asset rather than sway one. But if in 18-months war, MNKB has remained loyal to his roots, the west may not have any choice in the matter.
It is essential for the Assads to sense they are making decisions in a vacuum. Their reliance on outsiders, like the Iranian regime, will always be suspect because both, with their mother Anissa, fully understand it is about the ideology and not about a family.
Find MNKB and save humanity the burden of a trial or washing the dirty laundry of a member of an Alawite community just realizing what is happening; a community gullible enough to believe it can trust a family to rule through fears an absolute majority known to terrorize at the slightest push. You can forgive the Alawites for supporting Assad since only the top men knew what this regime did to its people, but you cannot forgive them for backing him up fully after such atrocities. There is a point when even the most rational of minds will blur the lines between the family and the community, something the Alawites must begin to grasp and react to.
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