Putin warns of long civil war if Assad ousted

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Monday of a protracted civil war in Syria should President Bashar al-Assad be "unconstitutionally" removed from power by rebel fighters.
"We are afraid that if the country's current leadership is removed from power unconstitutionally, then the opposition and today's leadership may simply change places," Russian news agencies quoted Putin as saying.
"One will become (the new) leadership and the other -- the opposition," Putin was quoted as saying after talks with visiting Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti.
"We do not want the situation to develop according to the bloody scenario of civil war and continue for no-one knows how many years as it happened in Afghanistan," Putin was quoted as saying in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
He once again called on both sides in the 16-month conflict to sit down for talks that could help end fighting Syrian activists say has claimed more than 17,000 lives.
Putin stressed that Syria's political future should not be decided on the battleground.
Meanwhile, the head of the Arab League has said the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad cannot last for long, saying its days were numbered in an interview published in the pan-Arab newspaper al-Hayat yesterday.
Arab League ministers who convened in Doha on Sunday called on Assad to relinquish power, adding that the Arab League would help to provide a safe exit for him and his family.
Asked how long the Assad administration could survive, Elaraby told al-Hayat: "I cannot define a period, but the regime cannot continue for a long time."