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# Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Bashar Assad

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SZtQRsIt.m3u8" -->
## Video: Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Bashar Assad

[Watch (HLS stream): Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Bashar Assad](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SZtQRsIt.m3u8) (1:34)

![Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Bashar Assad](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/SZtQRsIt/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2013-12-11. TIME's Bobby Ghosh explains why Syrian President Bashar Assad is on the short list for the 2013 TIME Person of the Year_


---

Jul 27, 2023 4:00 PM UTC

---

## More From This Series

[All Videos](https://time.com/video/)

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### Syria’s Bashar Assad Says Donald Trump Could Be A ‘Natural Ally’

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### Person of the Year 2013 Shortlist: Edith Windsor

[TIME's 2013 Person of the Year: Pope Francis](/video/1rYj3kZp/)

### TIME's 2013 Person of the Year: Pope Francis

---


## Transcript

I'm Bobby Ghosh editor of TIME International. Bashar Al- Assad the dictator of Syria was one of the most influential people in the world in 2013 and that's why he's on the shortlist for TIME Magazine's Person of the Year. 2013 is the year in which the civil war in Syria turned almost decisively in Assad's favor. It's a year in which he gassed his own civilians, killing scores of people and essentially had the Western world accept his continued rule of Syria. The deal he made brokered by Russia to give up Syria's chemical weapons effectively allows him to remain in power because he's the only person who can actually guarantee that deal.

The movement against Assad is splintered into many groups and the most effective are Al Qaeda- linked terrorists and that is what makes it very hard for the rest of the world to give his enemies the support and the military strength they need to overcome Assad. He also has one thing that makes him incredibly dangerous, the appetite to kill tens of thousands of his own people. No compassion. That sectarian war is playing out in other countries as well, most notably in Iraq and also in Lebanon which also borders Syria. Assad's continued survival is a slap in the face of President Obama and the Western countries that have said repeatedly that he must go.

He's still there.

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