In Syrien brauen sich Probleme zusammen: Um den Fortschritt des Landes aufrechtzuerhalten, ist ein integrativerer Übergang erforderlich

[Excerpt from essay by Jerome Drevon, researcher at the Geneva Graduate Institute; and Nanar Hawach, Senior Analyst for Syria at the International Crisis Group.]

Denied meaningful participation in the country’s newly reconstituted political institutions, religious and ethnic minority groups, as well as members of the Sunni majority who are wary of the ideological outlook of the new leadership, remain unsure of their place in the new Syria. Nowhere has this tension been more acute recently than in the country’s northeast, where Syrian government forces have swept into territory that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces controlled for more than a decade. Last week’s agreement between the SDF and the government, which has begun a process of integrating the group into state institutions, may now begin to ease those tensions. But the momentum must not stop here.

If Syria’s political transition stalls, the country could be drawn into new cycles of violence, jeopardizing the progress the government has made gathering international support. The only way to ensure long-term stability is to truly open up the political system.