The Other Losing War

I still think Assad is losing his war despite his recent reclaiming of the initiative. Not only do I think he can't use his military power to achieve a lasting objective before he burns out his new combat power, but the economic basis for his war has collapsed as Assad has lost most of Syria.

So far, Iran is paying--in spite of their own financial problems--for Assad to fight:

The fact that the Syrian currency has not already collapsed has surprised some analysts, who thought it would go into free fall as Iraq’s did in the wake of the U.S. invasion. Aid and loan facilities from Iran and Russia may have made the difference. ...

But as the currency turmoil this past week demonstrated, the economic challenges also threaten Assad’s hold on power, and the Syrian government is being forced to rely ever more heavily on Iran and Russia.

Syrian officials refuse to put a figure on the fall in the gross domestic product (GDP) since the civil war started 27 months ago. But in March, the former deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Abdullah Dardari, now with the United Nations, estimated the nation’s GDP had shrunk by just over a third in the last two years.

Russia, too is assisting Assad. I just don't think the tiny Alawite population and willing minority allies can sustain the loss of life that a winning war effort will require. And that's aside from paying for the war effort.