Attempts to rehabilitate Assad are picking up steam. Several European countries — including Italy, Hungary and Greece — are keen to abandon the current policy of isolation. They want to return Syrian refugees to the country despite the unwillingness of the regime to pursue genuine reconciliation. They hope that in exchange for financial support and political cover, Assad will agree to allow back large numbers of refugees living not just in Europe but also in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
These expectations are misplaced. For Assad, negotiations over security, refugees and drugs are means to entangle foreign governments in drawn-out processes in which the other side pays and concedes as he talks and cedes nothing. Assad hopes that the incoming Trump administration will withdraw its troops from Syria and lift stringent sanctions without requiring it to engage in a political process.
Unfortunately, I believe Assad is on the rise. And Trump is likely to withdraw US support for SDF
https://www.ft.com/content/049acb96-b89a-4e0d-91d8-a58ff403ba7b
Attempts to rehabilitate Assad are picking up steam. Several European countries — including Italy, Hungary and Greece — are keen to abandon the current policy of isolation. They want to return Syrian refugees to the country despite the unwillingness of the regime to pursue genuine reconciliation. They hope that in exchange for financial support and political cover, Assad will agree to allow back large numbers of refugees living not just in Europe but also in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
These expectations are misplaced. For Assad, negotiations over security, refugees and drugs are means to entangle foreign governments in drawn-out processes in which the other side pays and concedes as he talks and cedes nothing. Assad hopes that the incoming Trump administration will withdraw its troops from Syria and lift stringent sanctions without requiring it to engage in a political process.