Syrian president Assad poses bigger threat than Isis, warns thinktank 

The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, poses a much bigger threat than Islamic State, and western policy on the war-stricken country is fundamentally flawed, analysts from an authoritative thinktank have said.
At the launch of the latest annual strategic survey published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), experts criticised the west for not doing more to gather support either from other Arab countries or Syrian rebels not attached to Isis.
“Since the beginning, western powers have run away from hard choices in Syria,” said Emile Hokayem, IISS senior fellow for Middle East security. He said western policy was “fundamentally flawed” by not realising the extent of the threat posed by the Assad regime. “That makes the threat of Isis bigger,” he said.
He said Assad was the biggest threat to the security of the region, and Russia was making the situation worse by giving military support to the Assad regime. Western cooperation with Russia over Syria was unlikely to improve matters, Hokayem added.