“My conviction is that Assad will run and will win because he has popular support in Syria from all the sects - Sunnis and secularists. I believe the election will take place on its due date and Assad will run and win decisively.”Samia Nakhoul and Laila Bassam, “Hezbollah confident in Assad, West resigned to Syria stalemate,” Reuters, April 9, 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/09/us-syria-crisis-hezbollah-insight-idUSBREA3815C20140409.