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No One Wants to Help Bashar al-Assad Rebuild Syria
(Atlantic) Krishnadev Calamur - The UN estimates the cost of reconstruction in Syria at $250 billion. Russia wants the West to pay up. However, the U.S. and its Western allies have adamantly refused, absent meaningful political changes. There would be "no reconstruction without [a] political transition," a French embassy spokeswoman said. "Assad is a principal obstacle to rehabilitation of Syria, and eventually the Alawite business class and those who support the regime externally will find that he's a liability," a Western diplomat said. Assad is in a bind. His supporters can't afford to pay for reconstruction; his adversaries in the West can, but won't. Iran, Assad's other principal supporter, is suffering from reimposed U.S. sanctions and doesn't have that much to spare. The West is in a quandary. It doesn't want to reward Assad by rebuilding Syria and cementing his hold on power, but it doesn't want to ignore a humanitarian situation that will likely get worse.