More than 1,000 members of the Syrian Ba’ath party are gathering in Damascus today for what the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, has promised will be a great leap forward on the road to reform. In the words of one government minister, it will be an occasion for “unfettered frankness and freedom” and “constructive self-criticism”. After decades of authoritarian rule, the meeting is unprecedented – but persuading loyal Ba’athists to loosen up, chill out and say what they think, rather than what they think the party wants to hear, will be a formidable task in itself. Full Story