Syrian authorities arrest relative of Assad after rare protest
Syrian authorities have arrested a relative of President Bashar Assad, the state news agency said on Monday, two days after protesters called for the man's punishment over his suspected killing of an army officer in a traffic dispute.
Hundreds of Syrians staged a rare protest on Saturday evening in the coastal city of Latakia, a stronghold of Assad and his Alawite sect, to demand the execution of Suleiman al-Assad, the son of the president's cousin Hilal. State news agency SANA said the authorities had "arrested Suleiman Hilal al-Assad and transferred him to the relevant parties". It gave no further details.
