The gamble made by Damascus and its allies is that the US will be in a hurry to make any achievement in the Syrian crisis, and will accept the idea of Assad’s nomination in the coming elections due to domestic reasons related to their own upcoming election season
Tensions rise between the two key powers as Russia issues firm statement warning any side of retaliation if warring parties attempt to obstruct the evacuation of locals
Does sharing Syria in its current state mean dividing it among its occupying powers? The facts say that the forces which control Syria today will not be able to coexist within this division, Walid Bunni argues
Will Iran spend 2017, which is fast approaching, fighting to take over the remaining Syrian towns including the Damascus countryside which is still partly under the control of the rebels?
Confusion heads political expectations worldwide, with cautious optimism and wishful thinking being shared between the current US administration, Russia, Iran and Assad, as concrete details around what a Trump presidency would look like remain unclear
The advent of Trump to the presidency is likely to draw the curtain on this era, which requires relying more than before on subjective factors, and inventing means of resistance which are less costly to the revolution, and less dependent on external support
The issue that is difficult to find a clear explanation for so far is the reduction in the intensity of the bombardment. Is there something threatening the Russian aircraft? Or is Putin sending a message to the Iranians after the dispute that erupted between them that they will lose without his support?
Christians in these areas have also suffered from the Iranian presence, but in a different way from bombardment and destruction like Syria’s other areas, as communities leaving in large part due to a moral collapse and widespread disorder
Bashar al-Assad and the Iranians are working to impose their agenda on the next US president from now
The danger does not lie only in what has happened so far, but more in what the Obama administration may do during what remains of its term
Syria has become divided between conflicting forces into spheres of influence
Top Iranian and Russian diplomats meet to discuss strategy of combating terrorism in Syria
The clashes that have erupted in Hassakeh between the Kurdish PYD militia and the forces of Assad’s mafia regime may be one of the swift results of this common approach and a first indication of the new understandings between Turkey and Russia, which Iran may not be far from.
Today, the governments of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria act based on a conviction they are reluctant to proclaim publicly, which is that the Kurds are more dangerous than ISIS
Russia and the United States have not yet agreed on dividing influence in the Middle East, and they are providing space to the regional countries to dive further into this quagmire
Both sides called on UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan De Mistura to intensify his efforts to start intra-Syrian talks without preconditions in Geneva
According to leaders in the Islamist and moderate groups, Western diplomats, and officials and civilian activists in Aleppo, 10 reasons can be noted for the “Aleppo coup”
Washington has delivered a proposal to the Kremlin accepting joint military coordination in return for Russia pressuring Assad to end the bombing of moderates and restart political talks
“American administrations are famous for creating problems, but they never solve any,” Assad told the Australian SBS TV channel. The following is the full text of the interview, as published by SANA.
Militias increasingly devoting themselves to the interests of Moscow and Tehran often at the expense of the Assad regime in the central province
