I was looking at the translation of some fixed star names and found one that I think is pertinent to this issue. Looking at this chart, based on the day that the French General proclaimed Syria independent,
http://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Syria and Assad's natal chart,
http://www.astrotheme.com/astrology/Bachar_al-Assad you'll notice that Denebola, Dhanab al-asad stands out, being at 21Virgo. Syria has POF, Node and Sun conjunct. Assad has Moon opposing, Sun conjunct quite close. When I inserted the name, ذنب الاسد into google translate, it came back as Assad guilt, also guilty of, or sin or fault. Now, it is usually said to mean tail of the lion, which is where it is located, but I found this translation quite interesting. Assad means lion. A more ancient root, Dn, actually zn, means nourished or fully developed. znb means to wag (the tail). If a lion is fed and wagging his tail, he is likely guilty of killing his prey.
The tail of the lion marks a lunar mansion. It is the Changer (game changer, changer of the weather, etc). It is opposed to Regulus, being the end, where Regulus is the beginning of the Lion. It is considered unfortunate, bringing catastrophe, ending in disgrace.