Syria Is Disintegrating

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New York Times: Syria Increasingly Disintegrates in Crucible of War

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syria is falling apart, as warring groups carve it into de facto fiefs, and it is increasingly hard to see how its disintegration can be reversed.

Within the country, no single group can muster enough territory or popularity to win an increasingly fragmented war — or even to negotiate and enforce an eventual peace. From outside, regional and global powers tug at the country in a proxy fight for their own interests, but none of them have the influence or, apparently, the will to reunite Syria.

In the crucible of war, as the Middle East undergoes its broadest reshaping since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century, de facto spheres of influence and control are crystallizing, even as official borders remain unchanged.

WNU Editor: I concur with this analysis. News coverage of the Syrian conflict is limited, but after over 4 years of war there is still no sign that the civil war will end. But what we are witnessing is a clear disintegration of the country .... and I suspect that as the killing and destruction continues .... coupled with increasing foreign involvement (both directly and indirectly) .... there is going to be nothing left but rubble, bitter hatred, extreme radicalism on recovery level, millions of victims, and a fractured and dysfunctional state for the next few generations.