PRESIDENT ASSAD of Syria, under increasing pressure from Washington to end his country’s links with terrorism, will be powerless to do so, intelligence sources said. He remains a prisoner of his own intelligence barons and the rest of the “old guard” in Damascus. These shadowy figures and the other power- brokers who owed allegiance to President Assad’s late father will dictate how Syria responds to US demands to sever all links with the terrorist group Hezbollah and to refuse sanctuary to members of Saddam Hussein’s deposed regime. One intelligence source said: “President Assad has reforming instincts, but his hands are...