“War continues; but Syrian govt. stable”
Four years into the bloody conflict the government of President Bashar Al-Assad remains stable. Gaining more momentum after he won a new term in office in the first multi candidate presidential election in the country, Assad pledged to go on fighting what he called foreign-backed terrorism in his country while remaining open peace efforts aimed at reconciling his with his Syrian opponents.
2014 was definitely tough but for the Syrian government it carried many positive developments … kicking off with a much anticipated Geneva talks that ended with no results –a crushing stalemate and lack of results drove the UN envoy to Syria Al-Lakhdar Ebrahimi to resign and to be replaced by the veteran Swedish diplomat Stefan Di Mistura . Mistura who came to Damascus aware of the obstacles, is reportedly working on a plan to freeze fighting around the city of Aleppo.
This is a major gain for the Syrian government as it is widely seen as the key player in the Syrian crisis that no one can afford to ignore.
Diplomatics efforts have also been underway by Russia to bring the players in Syria at the negotiating table.
On the ground, the Syrian government made gains throughout the country, further securing the periphery of Damascus and taking the once rebel stronghold of Al-Qalamoun area along the Lebanese border while wining more grounds against the militants near Aleppo.
The tide has already shifted in favor of the Syrian government in the international arena. The Syrian government has just reopened its embassy in Kuwait and other countries are reportedly going to follow suit. This shows that the political isolation imposed on the Syrian government may end soon.
