This is CBS, Eye on the World.

I'm John Batchel.

Syria, darkness visible, a failed state, and yet the four parts of Syria describe four major powers in the region and globally.

To the south, IDF is planted on the Golan Heights and Mount Airman, up to the DMZ.

To the north, the Turkish army, very, very sophisticated, a NATO army with NATO equipment.

To the east, the U.S. and its contractors linked with the Kurds to contain what is remaining of ISIS in Syria.

And to the west, Russia, Russia military base, sea base, and what remains of an air base.

That is all described the corners of his Syria, but in the middle is a man named Al-Shara,

who used to be Narmdegar al-Jalani.

He is a former al-Qaeda leader, and he now claims to be, I believe, the president of Syria or the

leader of Syria.

I welcome someone to help me sort this out, a research fellow at the Foundation for the

Defense of Democracies, Hussein Abduhassain.

Hussain, a very good evening to you.

What to make of Al-Shara and his claims for authority, given how his country is as

fragmented as the Balkans.

Good evening to you.

Good evening, John.

What we know so far about Al-ra is he's obsessed with grabbing power and keeping it.

And he's proclaimed himself the transitional presence of Syria, and a few days after that he dropped the word transitional.

He started with two years, and a few weeks after that, he extended them to five years,

and he's given himself so many prerogatives that would make the Assad dynasty before

...