LONDON, December 10. /TASS/. The collapse of Syrian President Bashar Assad could lead to the establishment of a hardline Islamist government or one incapable of preventing the resurgence of radical forces, Reuters reported, citing analysts and diplomats.
"There is strong concern inside and outside the region about the power vacuum that Assad's sudden fall may create," the agency quoted director of the Gulf Research Center think tank Abdelaziz al-Sager. As an example, he cited the civil wars that followed the toppling of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
According to a senior Western diplomat interviewed by Reuters, the fragmented rebel forces and the lack of a governance plan for Syria could create conditions for the emergence of extremist groups.
Syria’s armed opposition units launched a large-scale offensive on government troops in the Aleppo and Idlib governorates on November 27. Late on December 7, they seized several large cities, including Aleppo, Hama, Deir ez-Zor, Daraa, and Homs. On December 8, they entered Damascus while government troops withdrew from the city. The head of the Syrian government, Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, expressed his readiness for a peaceful transfer of power in the country. President Bashar Assad resigned and fled the country.
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