"Bashar al-Assad has lost all hope of victory or escape according to Russian diplomats who met with the Syrian president two weeks ago.

Government forces have launched a counteroffensive to stem rebel gains around the capital as the opposition lays siege to the Damascus International Airport and closes in on Assad.

"[Assad's] mood is that he will be killed anyway," Russian political analyst Fyodor Lukyanov told The New York Times.

"If he will try to go, to leave, to exit, he will be killed by his own people [the minority Alawite sect]," Mr. Lukyanov added. "If he stays, he will be killed by his opponents. He is in a trap. It is not about Russia or anybody else. It is about his physical survival."

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