Spring , following in the footsteps of ousted leaders of Egypt , Libya and Tunisia ? Analysts say that the odds are stacked against Syria 's president . Steven A. Cook , Hasib J. Sabbagh senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations , said it is hard to predict what might come next for al-Assad -- but the pressure is on . `` The kind of traditional support he had externally is clearly crumbling , '' Cook said . `` His prospects this week are worse than they were last week . '' Emile Hokayem , senior fellow for regional security at the Bahrain office of the International Institute for Strategic Studies , thinks it highly unlikely al-Assad will hang on to power . Three main factors will likely contribute to the downfall of Syria 's president after 11 years in power , he said . One is that he has lost legitimacy in the eyes of his own people . `` It 's hard to see how he would recover his legitimacy after killing almost 4,000 of his countrymen , '' said Hokayem . The United Nations puts the toll of deaths at well
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Syria 's President Bashar al-Assad looks more isolated with each passing day as his regime continues a bloody eight-month crackdown on pro-democracy protests . His Arab neighbors signaled their displeasure with him this week by suspending Syria from the Arab League , a stinging blow for a nation that sees itself at the heart of Arab concerns . Jordan 's King Abdullah went a step further , telling the BBC he would step down if he were al-Assad , an unusually blunt assessment that followed Western calls for al-Assad to go . And Turkey , formerly an important ally and trading partner , threatened to cut off electricity supplies to Syria as the European Union moved this week to extend sanctions against more members of al-Assad 's circle . This week , the conflict inside Syria entered a new era when army defectors attacked pro-government targets . That ratcheted up the pressure even more -- the Russian foreign minister was widely quoted as saying attacks on government buildings in Syria resembled `` civil war . '' So can al-Assad cling to power ? Or will he become the fourth leader forced from office in the Arab