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Middle East and North Africa

Expert: Military interference in Syria fraught with interreligious and civil wars

Professor Stefano Silvestri of the Institute of International Affairs also called for contact with the rebels

Photo EPA/ABIR SULTAN

Photo EPA/ABIR SULTAN

ROME, September 9 (Itar-Tass) - Any military interference in Syria is fraught with civil and interreligious wars and the establishment of anti-democratic regimes, Professor Stefano Silvestri of the Institute of International Affairs, a think-tank, told Itar-Tass on Monday.

Such a scenario was inevitable “if it is proved that the Assad regime used chemical weapons and even that it has plans to do so. If the situation develops this way, it will be next to impossible to go on saying that interference would do more harm than non-interference,” he noted.

The professor said military involvement would exert pressure on President Bashar Assad only in the event of Russian consent, for which it would need irrefutable US evidence of mass killing. Europe had no possibilities to influence affairs other than by words, Professor Silvestri said, adding that Turkey, which had a lengthy border with Syria, had a key say in a final decision.

He also called for contact with the rebels. “It is necessary to understand who they are and what they want,” he added.

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