People shop at Souk al-Hamidieh decorated with banners depicting Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, ahead of the May 26 presidential election, in Damascus, Syria May 22, 2021. REUTERS/Yamam al Shaar
Campaign posters for Bashar al-Assad line the streets of Damascus, alongside those for two obscure rivals, but no one really doubts that Wednesday’s election will extend his presidency despite 10 years of war that has left Syria in ruins.
Ruled by his family for five decades, Syria is now barely recognisable from the nation that Assad, now 55, took over in 2000 after the death of his father,…
