Syrian Movie Rights Please

The assassination in Syria on Wednesday of Assad's powerful brother-in-law, his defense minister, the Head of the National Security intelligence agency, and a top general, together with severely wounding the interior minister – shows a dramatic turn in the rebels struggle.

The public image of the Syrian rebels as under-armed civilians facing off against a formidable & ruthless national army, and being massacred daily by helicopter gun-ships, tanks and artillery, now looks out-of-sync with the facts on the ground.

It is awesome to consider the level of sophistication required to pull off such an ambitious assassination plot.

These top government and military leaders were assembled together in Damascus' most secure facility, in a time of civil war, when every security precaution for their personal safety must have been taken.

No-one knows what the plot was, and how it was so effectively implemented. Some have proposed the assassin was a treacherous body guard, or the attack was using a planted bomb, remotely operated.

Neither sound credible as a stand-alone explanation of the facts.

This was not Qaddafi, who was found in a fox-hole and then lynched by a mob.

This attack required the best intelligence information, and a privileged access to the top security facility.

The intelligence would have to reliably provided details of the location, timing, attendees of this meeting.

Top level treachery would be required to obtain and distribute this classidied information. This is totally feasible in an environment where both generals and politicians have been deserting the government and joining the rebels. The Syrian Ambassador to Iraq recently turn-coated, and several Syrian generals have recently crossed the border into Turkey to join the rebel cause. So a highly positioned mole, leaking reliable top-secret intelligence to the rebels, is now quite plausible.

The privileged access would also be required to effectively deliver the explosives, undetected, to the location, coinciding with the meeting. Whether delivered by a suicide bomber, such as a body guard, or pre-planted in the room, it would have required amazing planning - surely access was severely limited, the room was minutely checked and everybody searched before entry.

I am therefore in awe of this assassination.

I envisage a James Bond movie, or Mission Impossible, either involving external partners, such as US, British or, who knows, Israeli assistance, and/or the planning, cooperation and participation of Syria's finest intelligence officers and most senior military/politicians.

I therefore think it signals the (oft predicted) death-throes of Assad's regime.

And a golden opportunity for a best-selling Hollywood action thriller.

I bid $100 for the movie rights.

Who do I make the check out to??