Syria's Assad likely to defy rebel bombers

This undated photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA shows Fahd Jassem al-Freij, Syria's new Defense Minister, who was appointed by the Syrian President Bashar Assad after the former Defense Minister Dawoud Rajha was killed by a bomb, in Damascus, Syria, , July 18, 2012. A bomb ripped through a high-level security meeting Wednesday in Damascus, killing three top regime officials. UPI