Hezbollah Deputy Leader Naim Qassem, interviewed by Reuters, says that the ongoing wars in Iraq and Syria still have no end in sight, and that the partition of both Iraq and Syria could ultimately result from the open-ended conflicts.
Qassem insisted that Hezbollah, Iran, and Russia would all remain on Assad’s side until the end, and that he believes Assad is the best chance to keep Syria whole. At the same time, US officials remain determined to see Assad ousted, but also want Syria and Iraq to both remain whole.
There appears to be a growing recognition that this may not happen, however, with CIA Director John Brennan insisting over the weekend that he’s got no confidence it’s even possible for Syria to avoid partition at this point. The US has repeatedly rejected proposals that would see more regional autonomy within Syria, one plan to keep it at least nominally whole.
US officials aren’t as willing to discuss the partition of Iraq as the result of the current war, but many officials have expressed support for Iraqi Kurdistan’s eventual independence, which may reflect an effort to mention the possibility at least somewhat.
A partitioned Syria would have to include a district for Islamic State which is a non-starter.
The only group capable of destroying ISIS militarily is Rojava Kurds. However Kurds will refuse to overrun all of ISIS territory south of Euphrates by themselves, they are too smart.
At the same time, if the Syrian Democratic Front can be successful with southern Syria groups as it is with Turkmen, Yezidis and Christians in northern Syrian it can absorb others perhaps including Alawites = win without fighting.
Assad has no writ in Syria, he’s murdered a quarter of a million Syrians, his army is made up of foreigners who hate the people they are supposedly dying for. The jihadists and ISIS have no writ, either.
Right now the Kurds are reasonable, they are also the only group with an inclusive ideology, It’s them or nothing.
It simply a lie to state that Assad has murdered 250.000 Syrians. Most estimates states that more than 2/3 of the casualties are combatants. And even if Assad had personally killed all of them it wouldn’t be more than 100.000. In fact you would be closer to the truth in saying that it is Obama and Hillary that are responsible for the 250.000 dead because of their “regime change”-madness