Al Arabiya quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Senior Fellow Frederic C. Hof on how Turkey’s ‘safe zone’ is another chapter in Syria’s disintegration:
Some observers who have gone into Syria in the last two years, speak of a newly ingrained militia and war culture in the country. The heavy toll that the continued atrocities have had on the population (+250,000 dead) and more than 3.5 million refugees, complicate the prospects of any political solution. Former US Official and Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council Fred Hof said in press call on Tuesday that “any prospect at all of a negotiated political settlement is zero, as long as these daily outrages, these daily atrocities, these daily abominations are taking place.” In his last speech on Monday, Assad showed no indication of compromise, vowing to “cleanse the terrorists.”