According to reports from both pro-government and neutral sources, the Assad army managed to take control of the city of Deraa (Dar'a), the administrative center of the province of the same name in southern Syria. It was here in 2011 that the anti-Assad uprising broke out, which many people call the beginning of the civil war in the country.
Today over the city, for many years considered the stronghold of the rebels, the Syrian state flag was solemnly hung. It’s too early to take control of the entire province, but no one doubts that the government forces, supported by pro-Iranian troops and the Russian military, will fulfill this task. The main question is what will happen next?
It is even more acute on the eve of the meeting between Trump and Putin, at which the fate of Syria will most likely be decided. Will the Russian victories in the Syrian desert prove to be pyrrhic later?
Time to throw stones and time to collect them
The Syrian campaign has come up to its intermediate result - all local military formations have either been destroyed or have gone “under the roof” of large system players: the United States, Turkey, or the pro-Assad coalition. Somewhere in the desert, the Igilovites, banned in Russia, are still running, but they no longer represent a powerful systemic force.
What to do next with a country destroyed by a war of many years, full of religious and confessional contradictions?
July 16 in Helsinki will be a meeting of the presidents of the United States and Russia, at which, according to experts, the theme of Syria will be one of the main. Trump has repeatedly stated that the United States would not mind leaving this country, saving taxpayers money and the lives of American soldiers. However, just because Americans can not leave - the war is much easier to start than to end. The formation of ISIS in Iraq after the departure of the United States from there is a clear confirmation of this.
Therefore, probably, Trump would not mind giving Russia control over Syria, especially if his friend Vladimir so passionately wants it. And we can talk not only about the southern province of Deraa, but also about the entire "American" occupation zone, located in the east of the country. The US needs Russia to stop supporting Iran, to which Washington seems to be very serious and unfriendly.
At whose expense will the banquet?
But does Russia need this? It should be understood that the current Syria is a country destroyed by war to the ground. Moreover, in its territory there are no serious raw material resources, as in the more successful neighbors - Iraq, Iran or Saudi Arabia. Already called the amount required for the restoration of Syria - a whopping $ 400 billion. Where to get them? Even the maintenance of the country will cost a lot of money, for the Assad regime has long been bankrupt. Will the Russian budget attract such spending?
Russian diplomats called on the world community to invest in the restoration of Syria. But this call is unlikely to be heard. Opponents of Assad in the US and Europe are trying to convince the media audience that the head of the Syrian state is a war criminal who tends his citizens with battle gases, and there can be a conversation with him only in one place - in The Hague. The Americans, of course, stabilization in the country with Russian help is absolutely not profitable. In order to blacken the image of Assad, desperate measures are being taken - “White Helmets” make heartbreaking performances about “poisoned” children. Containers with poisonous chlorine are smuggled into Syria illegally in order to attribute its use to the evil Syrian army ...
And the war in Syria will not end soon. It is possible that its scale will diminish, but tens of thousands of people turned into refugees, who have lost relatives and friends are unlikely to make love to President Assad.
