Insight - Syria's Assad is fortunate in his enemies

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview with China's state television CCTV, in Damascus, in this handout photograph distributed by Syria's national news agency SANA on September 23, 2013. REUTERS/SANA/Handout via Reuters

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Bashar al-Assad, who only a month ago faced the likelihood of U.S. missile strikes that could have tipped the balance of Syria's war against him, has won a reprieve.

His supporters, political sources in Damascus say, are jubilant, convinced the threat of regime change has lifted and that the Assads can face down opponents they consider weak - U.S. President Barack Obama and France's President Francois Hollande among them - just as they saw off their predecessors.