Source: Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs
When it comes to the regional dimension of the Syrian crisis, we are “dealing with a new Middle East cold war with different actors in the region with their own rivalries, mainly Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Iran,” said Carnegie’s Lina Khatib during a symposium on the Syrian refugee crisis at the American University of Beirut Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs.
Khatib said that the conflict is being viewed through a “black and white framework” by international actors, especially regarding the roles of Iran and Russia who are “sticking to a hardline position that they will not budge on.”
“To think that diplomatic talks such as Geneva are going to be the solution is actually very simplistic,” argued Khatib, because to reach any solution requires a complicated comprehensive strategy for a complicated conflict. Khatib added that there is still a “lack of will to be decisive about the conflict and there is a staggering lack of understanding, especially on the part of Western donors, of what is actually happening on the ground.”
