Is Syria Moving Toward Partition?

There are signs and warnings from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as the Syrian opposition that Syria may be moving toward partition.

Talk of partition had begun a few months after the outbreak of the war in Syria, as many analysts tried to rewrite Levantine history. They argued that the independent states in the region had been created a hundred years ago by the West during and after World War I, and that a century later, the West is trying to take the region in the opposite direction. Along these lines, they said that between 1915 and 1916, the West had wanted to break up the anti-Western Ottoman Empire and create modern states within its boundaries. After 2013, however, the trend will be to deliver those “failed states” to neo-Ottoman dominance, since Turkey is now allied with the West and will protect its interests.

Despite all the talk, however, no practical steps had been taken toward partition. In the past two weeks, however, that may have changed. Observers have noticed signs that Syria, and perhaps the region later on, has embarked on that journey.

The first indicator is the control of parts of Syria by the armed Syrian opposition and the establishment of an “interim government” to “administer those areas.” Syria’s representation in international forums has become uncertain. Syria’s seat in the Arab League was given to the opposition. Some are looking into the opposition issuing its own passports. Of course, no loyalist or oppositionist official has deemed those moves partitionist. On the contrary, most opposition leaders say that what they are doing is for the sake of a unified Syria.