Bashar Assad is preparing to quit Damascus should civil war erupt and carry on fighting from a mountain stronghold in the Alawite Mountains. The encampment is already under preparation with protected premises for his Allawite following.

Certain opposition groups, backed by retired army and security forces officers, are planning to take over a key delta city, proclaim it liberated territory and establish a "Free Egypt" government, debkafile's Middle East sources reported Tuesday, Feb. 1. The masses flooding central Cairo for the March of Millions are making for the presidential palace in their biggest protest demonstration in eight days.  Their leaders are in dialogue with army chiefs on a separate anti-governmental track.

In its latest issue out Friday, DEBKA-Net-Weekly goes behind the scenes of the Egyptian uprising to discover what the prime movers are after now. Hosni Mubarak, the object of popular rage, was the first to recover his wits and is trying to keep his regime afloat.  President Barack Obama publicly sided with the protesters' cause, but is secretly helping the army play for time and keep Mubarak going for the interim.  Israel has joined the effort.

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Persistent claims were heard Saturday, Jan. 29 in various Egyptian and informed western circles that the popular uprising against president Hosni Mubarak, still going strong on its fifth day, was secretly prepared three years ago in Washington during the Bush administration. Saturday morning, people rage gathered steam across Egypt  from Mubarak's refusal to step down. Law and order is breaking down in Cairo. At least 100 were dead and 2,000 injured by afternoon as police fired live ammo.