Ahmed Rashid

Al-Qaeda could end up the big winners in Syria

Fear of Isis is leading the Arab states to lend support to the lesser of two evils

issue 18 July 2015

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[/audioplayer]After plunging Syria into five years of a bloody civil war that has killed 300,000 and displaced 10 million, Bashar al-Assad is preparing for the endgame. He has been digging a bunker for himself, creating an enclave in the mountains around the coastal city of Latakia where his community, the Alawites, are in a majority.

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