Feb 16 2016
A bad deal on Syria
By Daoud Kuttab
AÂ truce reached at the Munich Security Conference last week requires halting the fight in blood-soaked Syria within a week.
We have yet to see whether the commitment to a political solution is genuine. The Russians have shown no sign of slowing down their lethal air campaign on Aleppo.
Sceptics suspect that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not halt his military support for the Syrian regime and that US President Barack Obama will not do anything to turn things around.
Since Russia started its campaign in Syria, it has been talking about the necessity of reaching a political solution and defeating Daesh. And yet, Russia has done nothing to help defeat Daesh while it has targeted only the moderate opposition groups.
The Russian calculations could not be more obvious. For it, targeting the moderate opposition will push all forces to join Daesh and in this case, Syrian President Bashar Assad can claim that the battle is between his forces and Daesh.
The international community, according to this reasoning, will have no option then but to support Assad.
Meanwhile, the American administration is losing leverage in the crisis. Continue Reading »