Joshua M. Landis is Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He is a member of the Department of International and Area Studies in the College of International Studies. He is also the President of the Syrian Studies Association.

Gulan: After three years of killing civilians, nowadays Bashar Assad’s criminal actions get very little attention, in addition to his appearing in the international media challenging international community. In your view, how does international policy deal with Assad and his regime?

Landis: Clearly, it is very vulnerable situation in Syria and it gets worse all the time and the international community is silent and nobody wants to get involved in Syria. They are trying to send in food which, of course, legitimizes the scene and this terrified the rebels.

Gulan: Some observers think that Assad is currently trying to take control of the all Syrian territories, because Assad is more powerful. To what extent will remaining Assad in power continue and be a threat to his nation?

Landis: it is hard to survive in such confusion. Assad is gaining ground around Damascus and Hamas; we have seen him advanced very recently, and on the other hand he can’t win, it is hard to imagine how he can live because there has been such a widespread resistance whether it is in Homes, Hama or Damascus, even though he has support from Iran and Hezbollah. The explosion in Lebanon is an indication that the war is going to spread and broaden because the opposition has not come to develop, and the war is spreading into Iraq and the constant fighting in Iraq, the explosions, and bombs are, in many ways, an expression of a larger battleground between Shias and Sunnis in this bigger region.

Gulan: Because of spreading of opposition groups in Syria, Geneva second conference is delayed, the delay of the Geneva conference then has discharged the core of Geneva’s first conference because Assad’s regime will not comply by leaving authority within the second conference. How will political transition take place in Syria by remaining Assad in power?

Landis: it can’t obviously. This is a problem of all Geneva process. The one way to get the opposition involved is to talk about the transition. For, of course, the west has no way to guarantee transition. Everybody understands that this will not be happening and instead they have to go to Assad and make a deal with Assad and they can’t do that because they still want to defeat Assad and they must defeat Assad, and Assad is promising to defeat the opposition. The west is looking for a way to stop violence and stop this war from spreading so they are trying to get people to a table in order to get a kind of transition and then will have to be some kind of attrition.

Gulan: On the regional and Middle East level, two fronts have come about regarding Syrian issue. The first was favoring remaining of Assad in power which was Iraq, Iran and Hezbollah. The other front was favoring downfall of Assad and they were Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. In your opinion, to what extent have Iran and Hezbollah been successful in supporting Assad to remain in power?

Landis: So far the Shias have been successful. The Shia front is coherent and we have seen defeating the Sunnis at home, of course it is not a complete defeat and Iran is talking to America which is helpful for Iran, and Hezbollah is supporting Assad. Although Assad has done well internally having a complete leadership, they cannot defeat the widespread insurgencies, at least not in a near future because the insurgencies are supported by most of the world and the Jihadists are going to Syria from every corner of the Sunni world. Money is going to Syria from Gulf States, and the majority of the population in the world is Sunni, and sixty percent of Syrian population is Sunni. So it is hard to see that the Assad defeat those, even though the opposition in Syria is very bad organized and there is no central leadership and fighting amongst themselves and that is the real weaknesses that leads to constant fighting. It is not strong enough to win but it is wide enough so that he will become defeated.

Gulan: Some observers think that after removing Morrsi from power by Egyptian army, international community has kept silence towards Syrian issue, fearing from Islamists to come to power in Syria too. To what extent was removing Morrsi in favor of remaining Assad in power?

Landis: this is important. Assad saw it as a major change in the momentum between Islamic forces and the military secular forces; so it was clearly a big relief and Morrsi began organized Jihadists to go to Syria and to condemn the regime. So Morrsi had become a real opponent of the Syrian regime. So when he was removed by the military, Assad saw it clearly as a major victory and the fact that the western countries had not criticized the military is an important shift.

Gulan: In order to change equation of power in Syria, international community should support and give weapons to opposition for making Assad step down from authority. To what extent do you expect from international community to force Assad to step down by arming and providing weapons to the opposition?

Landis: I don’t expect it. It is not going to happen. The international community are more frightened today of the Syrian opposition, they are frightened by the power of Al Qaeda and the fact that the biggest militias are Salafists and account for Sharia law, Jihad, etc. they are not democratic. They don’t believe in inclusive Syria where everyone is equal and the west cannot support them.