Bashar al-Assad would have to step down, regardless of the outcome of the Syrian conflict, international observers believe. They agree that the sitting president of Syria will have to go. Rather, he should act as a mediator on the way to resolving the conflict.
Sergei Demidenko, an expert of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Analysis:
"He has nothing else to do. He's just nowhere to go. Even if the war in Syria ends with his victory. He will have to leave anyway, because, after the Civil War, the country somehow has to be rebuilt. Syria does not have the money for it and it will never have it, since Syria has always been a poor country. Only Iran can help, but the country is in a bad economic position too. Syria lies in ruins."
In any case, even many opponents of the Syrian President understand that it is Bashar al-Assad who can take another step toward cease-fire.
Sergei Demidenko , an expert of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Analysis:
"Bashar al-Assad is able to help Syria if he steps down. But in any case, such a move should be staged adequately, in adequate circumstances. That is, the ethnographic balance in the country should remain the same as it was during the rule of the Alawite community, the Sunni-Alawi alliance that is the cementing factor in the ruling system of Syria in general. The head of state should be replaced with someone from the Alawites, who is more or less good for all."
Where will the country be able to find a good replacement for Assad? Will the Syrian people allow that to happen?
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