Australia: Post Assad Syria

The Sydney Morning Herald

US drawing up plans for the post-Assad era

WASHINGTON: The US State Department and the Pentagon are quietly sharpening plans to cope with a flood of refugees from Syria, help maintain basic health and municipal services, restart a shattered economy and avoid a security vacuum in the wake of President Bashar al-Assad's fall, administration officials say.

Mindful of US mistakes following the invasion of Iraq in 2003, both agencies have created several cells to draft plans for what many officials expect to be a chaotic, violent aftermath that could spread instability over Syria's borders, even though no official could predict whether Mr Assad's demise was weeks or months away.

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