Damascus (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Syria "will become another Somalia" and "it will not be divided, as many have predicted", but "i's going to be a failed State, with warlords all over the place." Veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, former Un and Arab League peace envoy in Syria, who stood down last week his "mission impossible", also said that the entire Middle East region may "blow up" if a political solution is not found, because conflict spread beyond Syria's border.
Criticizing Iran and Russia for supporting Damascus, Brahimi underscores that both Syrian government and the opposition had committed war crimes "every day" and warned that "people will be held responsible one day". He also said that situation in Syria "is so much worse" than Afghanistan and "it's going to blow up in your faces".
Mr Brahimi, former UN special envoy in Iraq, Afghanistan and South Africa, chaired two rounds of peace talks between the Syrian government and the opposition movement in Geneva, but the negotiations ended in deadlock, prompting his resignation. More than 150,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict started in 2011, with millions forced to flee their homes.
He also added that there were 500 or 600 French nationals, and roughly the same number of Britons, fighting in Syria, together with several thousands non-Syrians. They are part of an extremist movement called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a rebel group known for its ruthless tactics and suicide bombers active in both Syria and Iraq already, and Jordan is really struggling to continue resisting, and ready to strike throughout the West.