King Abdullah speaks on Assad strategy

Jordan's King Abdullah II has said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad might make a "worst case scenario" retreat to an Alawite stronghold if he falls from power. Some experts have also predicted that if Damascus falls to rebels, Assad could take refuge among Alawites in the northeastern mountains of Syria, where opposition forces say he has already been stockpiling weapons. "I have a feeling that if he can't rule Greater Syria, then maybe an Alawi enclave is Plan B," Abdullah said in an interview with US television network CBS. "That would be, I think for us, the worst case scenario -- because that means then the breakup of Greater Syria. "That means that everybody starts land grabbing which makes no sense to me. If Syria then implodes on itself that would create problems that would take decades for us to come back from." King Abdullah predicted Assad would keep up his brutal crackdown to cling to power because he "believes that he is in the right". "In his mentality, he is going to stick to his guns... I think the regime feels that it has no alternative, but to continue... I don't think it's just Bashar. It's not the individual. It's the system of the regime." Over 17,000 people are believed to have been killed in Syria in the 17 months of a pro-democracy uprising against President Assad. Jordan is believed to host thousands of Syrian refugees escaping the violence brought about by Assad's brutal crackdown on rebels.