Thursday, February 13, 2014

Why The Syrian Civil War May Burn For A Few More Years

(Click on Image to Enlarge)
Areas of control in Syria. Map by Frontline (NASA/Microsoft)

This Map Of Syria Shows Why The War Will Be So Difficult To End -- Washington Post

PBS Frontline's Evan Wexler and Sarah Childress put together this map showing which of the four major groups in Syria control which territory, as part of Frontline's new hour-long program on fighting there.

The map shows control divided between government forces, rebels with the ethnic Kurdish minority, rebels with the extremist Islamist group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), and the mainline rebel opposition.

These groups are four different colors for good reason: with the quasi-exception of the Kurds, who mostly just want Kurdish autonomy or independence, the other three groups all hate each other, all want to control Syria and all have very different visions for the country. And, as you can see, each controls a lot of territory.

Read more ....

Update #1: Syria conflict could last years, killing continues -- USA Today
Update #2: Taking a long view on Syria and the Sunni-Shiite divide -- David Ignatius, Washington Post

My Comment: The Lebanese civil war was a sectarian civil war (Christian - Muslim) that lasted for years .... the only difference between that civil war and the Syrian civil war is that the Syrian civil war is bigger involving Sunni - Shiite alliances, more international players are involved, and the weapons are more lethal. Is history repeating itself in this region of the Middle East .... from this angle it certainly looks like it.

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