‘End of Syria as we know it,’ outgoing UNHCR chief warns

[Anthea]

Rudaw

Syria and Iraq may cease to exist within their present borders unless a swift end to the Syrian war is found
Antonio Guterres (Outgoing head of the UN’s refugee agency)

"If the conflict does not end quickly, this might be the end of Syria as we know it – and the same is true for Iraq," the UNHCR reported Antonio Guterres as saying at the United Nations in New York on Monday.

Guterres, who finishes 10 years as head of UNHCR when he steps down at the end of this month, reiterated hopes that Syria peace talks in Vienna would be a "key step for peace to be re-established as the number one priority on the international agenda," the UNHCR reported on its website.

He warned that today's sectarian divide must not be allowed to escalate to the level of the wars of religion that "flattened large parts of Europe in the 16th and 17th century."

"The lessons of history show that peace cannot wait. The world needs a surge in diplomacy for peace," the outgoing official said.

The five-year-old conflict in Syria has displaced nearly 11 million people, including almost 4.4 million refugees in regional neighbors, including Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

So far this year, persecution, conflict and poverty have led an unprecedented one million people to seek safety in Europe, half of them Syrians.

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/221220151

[Piling]

That is already done, I think : Syria doesn't exist anymore. As Irak, proving that artificial borders and countries can not resist to serious crisis, because they are by themselves the source of crisis.