and, is assad a war criminal?

well, i think it's not really his fault - he was fighting a war thrust upon him by outside forces, using obsolete technology as a result of decades of sanctions. we wouldn't sell him modern weapons, then we condemned him for defending himself using what he had.

he's done some awful things, but the responsibility for it is largely with the saudis.

self-defence is a strong legal argument. you could get him for manslaughter, perhaps. but, it would be hard to convict him of war crimes, i think.

that said, i do agree that he needs to be phased out - not because of what he did but because of what is inevitable. i've made this argument here, repeatedly: if you leave the regime in place (and assad himself is of least concern, it's the generals that need to be removed) then there is no future but retaliation - the syrians will go after the saudis as soon as they can, to avenge what has been done to them. and, who can blame them for that?

and, yes - i'm in favour of regime change in saudi arabia, but not at the hands of bashar al-assad, or his generals.