War-hit Syria may splinter

The head of the US Central Intelligence Agency has said he is not optimistic about the future of Syria remaining one country.

John Brennan's comments are a rare public acknowledgement by a senior US official that Syria may not survive a five-year civil war in its current state.

"I don't know whether or not Syria can be put back together again," he said on Friday at the annual Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.

"There's been so much blood spilled, I don't know if we're going to be able to get back to [a unified Syria] in my life time."

John Kerry, US secretary of state, expressed similar fears in February, saying he would move towards a "Plan B" that could involve a partition of Syria if a ceasefire did not materialise in advance of peace talks in March.

"It may be too late to keep it as a whole Syria if we wait much longer," Kerry told the US Senate foreign relations committee.

However, he did not directly advocate for partition as a solution.

Several weeks later, Staffan de Mistura, UN envoy to Syria, said the possiblity of a federal division of the country had not been taken off the table.

At the time, major powers close to the UN-brokered talks discussed a potential federal break-up of the country, which would grant broad autonomy to regional authorities, while maintaining the country's unity as a single state.

President Bashar al-Assad pledged in June to "liberate every inch" of the country lost to rebel forces.

After five years of war that have left more than 280,000 people dead, according to UN estimates, and driven about 11 million people from their homes, Syrian territory has been carved up and divided between the government and its allies, Kurdish fighters, various opposition groups and the so called Islamic State.

The Syrian opposition has categorically rejected the idea of federalism.

In contrast, the Syrian Kurdish PYD party, which has wide influence over the country's Kurdish areas, and several allied groups announced in March plans to create an autonomous federation in the northeast.

The autonomous region, known as Rojava, includes Jazira, Kobani and Afrin - three distinct enclaves, or cantons, under Kurdish control.

On the ground, dozens of civilians left the besieged and battered opposition-held east of Syria's Aleppo city yesterday through a "humanitarian corridor" to the government-held west, state media reported.

The crossings were the first major movement of people from the besieged districts of the city after regime ally Russia announced Thursday that passages would be opened for civilians and surrendering fighters.