FILE - In this November 9, 2020 file photo, released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad listens to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their talks via video conference, in Damascus, Syria. On Nov. 13, 1970, Hafez Assad a young career air force officer launched a bloodless coup. Fifty years later, Assad’s family still rules Syria. The country is in ruins from a decade of civil war that killed around a half million people, displaced half the population and virtually wiped out the economy. But Hafez’s son, Bashar Assad, has an unquestioned grip on what remains. (SANA via AP, File)
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