MOSCOW (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova, Anastasia Levchenko — On Thursday, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the involvement of Assad in Syria’s political transformation was crucial. She stressed that political processes and transitions should guarantee "not only the safety but also the inclusiveness for all components of societies in the process."
POLITICAL PROCESS
The expert underlined that "Syria cannot be left alone now, there has to be an outside intervention."
Jason Hirthler, a US political commentator and author of The Sins of Empire: Unmasking American Imperialism, told Sputnik that the West needs to drop its demands of Assad stepping down.
"The most important political next step is for the Western coalition to drop its demand that the Assad administration leave office," Hirthler said, adding that the West, and its Saudi, Qatari, and Turkish allies, "has to give up it's proxy war on Syria."
The expert underlined that the future of Assad is what the Syrian people should decide, as they did in 2014 when over 80 percent of voters supported him in the elections.
At the same time, Gareth Porter, a US historian, investigative journalist, author and policy analyst, told Sputnik that it is too early to speak about a long-term settlement of the Syria crisis.
"The two main political- military forces that threaten the regime — ISIS and al Nusra Front and its allies are determined to remove the entire structure by force, so political steps involving other personalities who have been sitting out the war cannot contribute to a negotiated settlement of the war," Porter explained.
RUSSIA’S ROLE
Abdul Basit stressed that the US activities in Syria are not efficient, and expressed hope that "Russian intervention in Syria opens up new opportunities to re-visit the entire approach to the Syrian conflict and re-eveluate the whole policy."
"The Russian airstrikes should be far more effective than the American airstrikes. One thing is sure: that the American policy has failed," Basit told Sputnik.
Jason Hirthler said Russian efforts in Syria are far more organized that "what we've seen from the Western coalition over the last year."
"The chances of defeating the Islamic State have dramatically improved since Russia's entry into the conflict. They have coordinated with both the Syrians, Iranians and probably Hezbollah to launch combination air-and-ground attacks on ISIS positions," Hirthler said.
However, Gareth Porter view the current situation differently. He told Sputnik that "the Russians and Assad both agree that the primary threat to the regime at this point is not ISIS but the al-Qaeda franchise and its military allies, who are in control of Idlib province."
"I doubt that either the Russians or Assad believe they have any prospects for defeating either the al-Qaeda-led alliance or ISIS in the foreseeable future," the expert said.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with the country’s government fighting against opposition factions and militant groups, such as ISIL.
The United States has been conducting airstrikes against ISIL in Syria without approval from Damascus since 2014, while also training the so-called "moderate" opposition. Washington has also been demanding Assad's resignation.
Moscow, in turn, recognizes Assad as the legitimate authority in the country, stressing that the Syrian people are free to choose their leadership without outside intervention. On September 30, Russia began precision airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria following an official request from Assad.
