Peter Harling and Sarah Birke see the Syrian regime collapsing but worry the consequences may be devastating:
The regime may win a pyrrhic victory, by bringing about a civil war that will destroy its own structures, wreck the country and suck in the outside world. It would be a sad end for the most surprising explosion of empowerment of the Arab spring.
While the opposition continues to be wracked by serious internal divisions, Gregory Djerejian tries to figure out what a constructive US engagement might look like:
Obama must work with Putin to persuade him that his client in Damascus is doomed, and that the Arab League (and/or Friends of Syria) and Ankara’s move to establish a ‘safe haven’ in the north is but another death knell in his coffin. Russia should be given assurances around its naval base in a post-Assad Syria, and other inducements, with the aim of Moscow goading Assad to relinquish his seat of power on a more expedited basis (perhaps in return for safe passage out of Syria, though the growing war crimes dossier should optimally not allow for same).
(Photo: Members of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) take position in Idlib in northwestern Syria on February 22, 2012. By Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images)
The Dish 
