Syria's Assad 強化するs 支配する after four years of war
にもかかわらず Western and Arab hopes he would be consigned to the dustbin of history, Syrian 大統領 Bashar al-Assad enters his fifth year of war with an ますます tight 持つ／拘留する on 力／強力にする.
Alarm over the 広範囲にわたる 拡大 of the Islamic 明言する／公表する (IS) jihadist group in Syria and Iraq means that international 優先s have 転換d away from Assad's 除去.
"Assad has 改善するd his position 国祭的な. The US, EU 明言する／公表するs and others are no longer 需要・要求するing his 即座の 出発," said Volker Perthes, director of the German 学校／設ける for International and 安全 事件／事情／状勢s.
A man rides a bike past a 旗，新聞一面トップの大見出し／大々的に報道する 耐えるing a picture of Syrian 大統領 Bashar al-Assad in the city of Damascus on March 5, 2015 ?Louai Beshara (AFP/とじ込み／提出する)
In the four years since the 衝突 爆発するd in March 2011, leaving more than 210,000 people dead, Assad's 軍隊s have 後継するd in 停止（させる）ing 伸び（る）s by Western-支援するd 反逆者／反逆するs and jihadists 捜し出すing his 倒す.
While 権利s groups still 定期的に 告発する／非難する Assad of indiscriminately 殺人，大当り his own people, sending ヘリコプターs to 減少（する） 天然のまま バーレル／樽 爆弾s, even the Syrian 対立 no longer 需要・要求するs his 辞職 as a 必須条件 for peace 会談.
- 'Untenable position' -
A European 外交官 who often travels to Damascus said EU 明言する／公表するs are divided on how to を取り引きする the man 述べるd by French 総理大臣 Manuel Valls just last month as a "butcher".
"Outside of フラン, Britain and Denmark, who 拒絶する any 役割 for Assad in Syria's 未来, many European countries think that after four years, this position is untenable," the 外交官 said.
He said countries 含むing Sweden, Austria, Spain, the Czech 共和国 and Poland see no 利益 to 孤立するing Assad and want a softer European 姿勢.
"But they are too weak to have their 発言する／表明するs heard," he said.
US 国務長官 John Kerry recently laid 明らかにする the 転換ing Western 姿勢 に向かって the Syrian leader.
Assad "has lost any 外見 of legitimacy," Kerry said.
"But we have no higher 優先 than 混乱に陥れる／中断させるing and 敗北・負かすing Daesh," he 追加するd, using an Arabic acronym for IS.
Assad, seen 簡潔に as a 改革者 at the onset of his 支配する nearly 15 years ago, was ostracised for his 血まみれの repression of anti-政権 抗議するs that began in 2011.
But in 発言／述べるs that enraged the 反逆者／反逆するs, UN （外交）使節／代表 Staffan de Mistura recently 述べるd the 大統領，／社長 as "part of the 解答" in Syria.
"The Syrian 政権, and 特に its 長，率いる, is the interlocutor for the international community -- even if 公式に, the West, Arab 明言する／公表するs, and Turkey don't talk to him," said Souhail Belhadj, 研究員 at the Geneva 卒業生（する） 学校／設ける and author of "Bashar's Syria: Anatomy of an 権威主義者 政権".
- 外交の window -
After 苦しむing 初期の losses to 反逆者／反逆するs, Assad has managed to stabilise the 軍の balance and even make 伸び（る）s in some areas, thanks to 重要な support from the Lebanese Shiite 民兵 Hezbollah and the Iranian 革命の Guard.
空気／公表する strikes by the US-led 連合 have piled その上の 圧力 on jihadists who have flocked to the war-wracked country.
Today, the 政権 支配（する）／統制するs 40 パーセント of Syrian 領土 home to 60 パーセント of the 全住民.
Almost all of Syria's major cities -- except IS's self-布告するd 資本／首都 Raqa and half of the second city of Aleppo -- are under 政府 支配（する）／統制する.
But the 戦う／戦い is far from over.
"The Syrian 政権 certainly feels it is in an advantageous position with regard to the 軍の 状況／情勢," said David Lesch, professor of Middle East history at Trinity University in Texas and author of "Syria: The 落ちる of the House of Assad".
"On the other 手渡す, I think elements within the 政権 recognise that there may be an 経済的な horizon sooner rather than later ーに関して／ーの点でs of its dwindling 動員可能数, 財政／金融s and 資源s, 特に when its two strongest 同盟（する）s, Iran and Russia, are 苦しむing economically," he said.
Assad has a "window of 適切な時期" to ne gotiate in the coming months before the ぼんやり現れるing 2016 US 大統領の 選挙 starts to 制限する Washington's 柔軟性 on Syria, said Lesch.
A Syrian man prays over the 墓／厳粛／彫る／重大な of his son, who was killed during 爆撃する, at a 共同墓地 in the 反逆者／反逆する-held Damascus 郊外 of Douma, on March 5, 2015 ?Abd Doumany (AFP/とじ込み／提出する)
A member of the Syrian 政府 軍隊s walks next to a 井戸／弁護士席 at Jazel oil field, 近づく the 古代の city of Palmyra in the east of Homs 州 after they retook the area from Islamic 明言する／公表する (IS) group 闘士，戦闘機s on March 9, 2015
A handout picture 解放（する）d by the Syrian Arab News 機関 (SANA) on March 4, 2015 shows 大統領 Bashar al-Assad giving an interview to Portuguese 放送者 RTP in Damascus ?売春婦 (SANA/AFP/とじ込み／提出する)
