Top U.S. Spy Chief: Chemical Weapons Deal Strengthened Assad

U.S. Spy Chief Says Assad Has Strengthened His Hold On Power -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — The country’s top intelligence official said Tuesday that President Bashar al-Assad’s hold on power in Syria had “strengthened” over the past year, and that he had benefited from a deal to abandon his chemical weapons arsenal.

The statement by James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, came on a day when Syrian activists reported that government helicopters dumped explosives crammed inside oil drums and other large containers — so-called barrel bombs — onto neighborhoods in Aleppo suspected of housing insurgents. At least eight civilians, including five children, were killed, the report said.

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