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Don't Celebrate Assad's Victory Too Soon
(Al Arabiya) Abdulrahman al-Rashed - If Iran hadn't taken a strategic decision to save Bashar al-Assad's regime, he would not have even lasted until 2013. If Iran hadn't employed its regional militias, such as Hizbullah, Assad would not still be in his palace. But has the Assad regime really won? The facts on the ground are greater than the temporary results of recent battles. Assad's forces and his allies' militias only control one-third of Syria today, and they don't even fully control this one-third. It's a dangerous war of attrition that all the participants cannot tolerate, except for al-Qaeda groups which arrived in the country on a one-way ticket as they are willing to fight to the death. The relationship between the regime and the people has been broken. The Syrian army has shrunk as a result of defections and losses. Assad and his security forces represent a small sectarian minority controlling a country where a big majority - 70% - are Sunnis. The war on the regime will continue until the regime falls.