Assad loyalists framed his rule as the sole alternative to national destruction

Evidence

Painted on the walls of the ancient nation, regime loyalists delivered a very simple message: “It is either Assad, or we will burn the country.” — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn, 248

Categorization

• CANDY: A dark, chilling, quotable line — Assad loyalists threatening to burn the country themselves as the alternative to his fall.
• XREF: This slogan eerily foreshadows the book’s title ‘If We Burn’ and crystallizes the regime’s self-fulfilling logic of scorched-earth survival.