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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Israel pessimistic on Syria ceasefire, eyes sectarian partition |
| 2016-02-14 |
JERUSALEM - Israel voiced doubt on Sunday that an international ceasefire plan for Syria would work, with one senior official suggesting a sectarian partition of the country might be preferable. While formally neutral on the five-year civil war wracking its neighbor, Israel has some sway among the world powers that have mounted armed interventions and which on Friday agreed on a "cessation of hostilities" to begin within a week. The deal, clinched at a Munich security conference, is already beset by recriminations between Russia, which backs Syrian President Bashar al-Assad militarily and wants to see his rule restored, and Western powers that have called for change in Damascus involving some opposition groups. "The situation in Syria is very complex, and it is hard to see how the war and mass killing there are stopped," Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, in Munich to meet European counterparts and Jordan's King Abdullah, said in statement. "Syria as we have known it will not be united anew in the foreseeable future, and at some point I reckon that we will see enclaves, whether organized or not, formed by the various sectors that live and are fighting there." Ram Ben-Barak, director general of Israel's Intelligence Ministry, described partition as "the only possible solution." |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #4 Syria says Turkey shelling their forces. I can't see any of the actors blinking yet. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2016-02-14 19:15 |
| #3 I guess it's the traditional place for such things now. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2016-02-14 18:41 |
| #2 Am I the only one who cringes on reading the phrase " Munich security conference"? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2016-02-14 15:24 |
| #1 Crazy Uncle "Slow Joe" got one right -- just the wrong country... |
| Posted by: Steve White 2016-02-14 14:59 |