Assad or No Assad? US Hates Syrian Leader but Now Scared to Overthrow Him

The relationship between the US government and Bashar al-Assad is getting close to absurd; on the one hand, Washington wants the Syrian president overthrown, on the other hand, the United States and its allies are even more scared of those who could replace him, Italian La Repubblica said.

Instead of working together with Russia and Europe on how to stop the Syrian conflict, the United States keeps making the situation worse, the Italian newspaper said.

"In Syria, all is not lost yet, but only if countries involved will open their eyes and take back their demands, which they themselves know, are useless and impractical. Now, it's like the theater of the absurd, they continue to adhere to these demands, while the crisis is getting worse and worse every day," Joshua Landis, an expert on Syria, told La Repubblica.

There is only one solution to the existing problem — a ceasefire agreement. But neither the United States nor Saudi Arabia would agree to this, because a ceasefire would mean that al-Assad would remain in power. Washington clearly doesn't want that, the expert said.

Well, at least Washington doesn't want this on paper. But the truth is that in reality the West doesn't want al-Assad gone, because then nobody knows who will come to power in Damascus. With al-Assad gone, Syria will become a free-for-all confrontation between various militant factions, Landis said.

"Al-Nusra? Islamic State? Or Islamic militants with ties with al-Qaeda? All these option are terrifying, that's why nobody really wants Assad to leave," Landis argued.

At the same time, Europe could play a key role in this situation, acting as the middleman between the United States and Russia to implement a ceasefire agreement in Syria. According to Landis, Europeans will soon pay an even big price for their lack of action, because soon the flow of refugees running away from the Syrian war into Europe will increase exponentially.