Syria Truce Comes With Price, but Not for Assad
By DAVID E. SANGER FEB. 26, 2016
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/27/world/middleeast/syria-truce-comes-with-price-but-not-for-assad.html
Une #partition de la #Syrie oui, mais pas n’importe laquelle (ne dit pas l’article),
Mr. Gordon noted that the cessation of hostilities agreement may “effectively start to develop into a de facto partition of the country, whereby different ethnic groups control the regions they are currently holding.” That is what worries the Israelis, who see a Syrian-Russian-Iranian axis developing on their border, a group that already has the support of the terrorist group Hezbollah.
Over time, European and Israeli officials say, the cease-fire may give Mr. Assad lasting control of the string of major cities — Damascus to Homs to Aleppo — that are now increasingly in his control, thanks to Russian and Iranian support. And it begins to etch out other territory for the Sunni opposition groups backed by Washington and the Arab states, while giving a sliver in the north to the Kurds.
John Kirby, Mr. Kerry’s spokesman, disputes the idea that the agreement would carve Syria along the existing battle lines. “You need to look at the text,” he said. “Every document includes explicit commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, and you could argue that we’ve actually made a stronger commitment against partition than ever before, because all of the parties have signed on to that notion.”
A senior administration official, who would not speak on the record about the internal White House deliberations, argued that the separate enclaves were temporary and would make it possible for negotiations on a political settlement to get started.