The days of Bashar Assad are counted, however the regime might hold on as long as there are protest actions outside Damascus and Aleppo, former US Ambassador to Syria Edward Djerejian told United Press International.

According to him, the relative calm condition in the two major cities is due to the clan apparatus of the politico-military security which was created by Assad’s father Hafes. However the situation is about to change as there are serious incidents happening in the major cities. According to Djerejian, another factor due to which Assad will hold on to power is the disagreement between the opposition forces and their geographic distribution. The opposition forces in Syria are not located at the same place which makes an external military intervention quite problematic.

“Something like what happened in Srebrenica might happen here as well – when the humanitarian crisis becomes irresistible, the international community will take decisive actions,” he said.

If there is no crisis, the West will adopt diplomatic approaches putting tension on the regime and supporting the opposition.