Following Barak's statements about alternatives to the central regime... What is Washington preparing for Syria?

Arab Sea Newspaper - Special

Arab Sea_Reports: Experts believe that Washington is in a state of confusion regarding the future of Syria, whether in maintaining its unity or moving towards finding alternatives to the central regime. They explained that "these statements reflect the features of a new anticipated American policy, but what will determine the mechanisms of its implementation in Syria is the extent to which the agreement with the Syrian Democratic Forces is implemented or not, as well as the way to deal with the Suwaida file, and whether the United States will keep Barak as its envoy or replace him with someone else." The US envoy to Syria, Thomas Barak, said that Syrians should think about alternatives to the strict central regime after the events of violence in Suwaida. The Washington Post quoted him as saying that what is required is not the establishment of a full federal system, but a less severe formula that guarantees all components to preserve their identity, culture and language, away from ideological threats or religious extremism. This coincided with the official announcement by a number of Syrian figures of the formation of the "Political Council for Central and Western Syria", with the aim of finding a political entity that expresses the Syrian coast region and includes the governorates of Latakia and Tartus and parts of Homs and Hama. American policy Strategic expert Dr. Muhammad Youssef Al-Nour says that "Barak's statements regarding alternatives to the central regime reflect the absence of consensus and balance among some of those assigned by the American administration to the Syrian file, especially since this file is linked to other threads in the region." Al-Nour added that "the policy managed by Barak does not represent the true approach of the United States in Syria, as the main file is in the hands of the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) and not in the hands of President Trump's envoy or the White House. On this basis, a distinction must be made between the actual policy and what is presented in the media without finding its way to implementation. Barak's statements in recent months fall within this description." He believed that "American policies do not reflect the reality of what is happening on the ground, and that what happened on the coast and in Suwaida came within a well-studied plan based on the distribution of roles, which prompted the Syrian regime to commit these attacks in light of the reassurances it received from both Washington and the Israelis during the Azerbaijan and Paris meetings. Al-Nour considered that "the misunderstanding of President Ahmed Al-Shara's administration - regarding the new policies that Washington is working on and the extent of their impact on the region's conflicts - reflects a wrong approach and short-sightedness, especially with regard to Israeli ambitions in Syria." He added that "there are expectations of more divisions, in light of a field reality that is heading towards a state of semi-partition or towards federalism, which depends on the size of the conflicting forces." Decentralized system For his part, Syrian political researcher Ghassan Youssef believes that Barak "wanted to say that other components such as Kurds, Druze, Alawites and Christians should be granted a kind of decentralized system that allows religious and cultural freedom, while respecting customs and traditions and not interfering in the details of each component." Youssef explained that "this perception has become necessary from Barak's point of view, so that the conflict between the central government in Damascus and the hot areas demanding secession, foremost of which are Suwaida or areas of northeastern Syria, is not renewed." He pointed out that "the American envoy had previously spoken about the need for Syria to remain a unified central state, but today he is retracting that due to recent developments." He considered that "these statements reflect a new anticipated American policy, but the extent of its implementation is linked to the fate of the agreement with Qasd, dealing with the Suwaida file, and also whether the United States will continue to rely on Barak or will appoint another envoy in his place."