US must act decisively to weaken Russia and Iran as guarantors of Assad’s...
On April 13, the United States, United Kingdom and France launched successful strikes on three targets in Syria in response to President Bashar al-Assad’s most recent use of chemical weapons. Shielding...
View ArticleTrump’s ‘Syraqistan’ strategy is a success — and a failure
President Trump’s military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been a resounding success. ISIS lost Raqqa, its putative capital, in October 2017, and has seen its holdings in the...
View ArticleWhy the United States must remain in Syria
Syria and its merciless civil war is back in the news and in policy discussions, after months of being all but ignored, following reports that President Donald Trump discussed potential resolutions...
View ArticleWhen Assad asks Syrians to come home, here’s what he really means
“We encourage every Syrian to come back to Syria,” President Bashar al-Assad told reporters last month. His comments, part of a larger Russian-led charm offensive targeting Western support for...
View ArticleEnding US funding for Syria's stabilization brings benefits — and risks
Last Friday, the Trump administration informed Congress that it is ending $200 million in funding for stabilization efforts in Syria and shifting these resources to areas of greater need. This follows...
View ArticleTurkey-Russia Idlib agreement: A lesson for the US
Russia and Turkey agreed to a diplomatic solution for Syria’s northern Idlib province at a meeting in Sochi on Sept. 17. It followed weeks of concern that Syria’s regime, backed by its Russian and...
View ArticleThe weak American hand in Syria
The Syrian civil war at last shows signs of coming to an end. That end will be a bitter humanitarian disaster, and it will result in the temporary consolidation of power by the government of Bashar...
View ArticleUS withdrawal from Syria will endanger Kurds, Arabs, Christians
Trump’s unilateral decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria will embolden our adversaries, including Iran, Russia and Syrian leader Bashar al Assad, and weaken and betray our Kurdish and Arab...
View ArticlePompeo’s Cairo speech more ‘back to the future’ than break with past
When the most senior American diplomat steps onto the world stage, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo did last week in Egypt, a baseline expectation is that he will speak with credibility and the...
View ArticleDem senator says Trump's Syria withdrawal is leading Kurds 'to a...
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) on Wednesday slammed President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, saying it will result in a "slaughter" of the Kurds."He's leading them to a slaughter,"...
View ArticleGabbard hits back at Meghan McCain after fight over Assad
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) fired back at ABC's Meghan McCain as someone "clamoring for regime change wars" on Friday, just two days after a contentious exchange on "The View" that included the...
View ArticleThe future (and present) of northeast Syria is female
Layla Moustafa is a 30-year-old civil engineer who now serves as co-president of the Raqqa Civil Council, the city that was once the capital of the Islamic State caliphate in Syria.She symbolizes the...
View ArticleWomen's health in Syria: An American imperative
Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, hospitals and health-care workers have been actively targeted as a means of breaking the will of the opposition. The perpetration of crimes of war on...
View ArticleSamantha Power: UN covering up Russia's role in Syria bombings
Former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power on Tuesday accused the U.N. of helping to conceal Russia’s role in a bombing campaign during the Syrian civil war that targeted sites including schools...
View ArticleUS ambassador to UN to travel to Syria border town amid debate over...
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, will travel to Turkey’s border with Syria this week amid a debate at the U.N. Security Council over the delivery of cross-border...
View ArticleSyria's challenge to Tony Blinken's conscience
The Nazi massacre at Babyn Yar claimed the lives of 33,771 Ukrainian Jews in September 1941. To mark the 80th anniversary of the massacre, Secretary of State Antony Blinken meditated on the lessons of...
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