updated Sun. April 14, 2024
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Axios
April 16, 2018
What we're hearing: The source, who has decades of experience analyzing the region, emails Axios a devastating indictment of the U.S. Syria "strategy" — or lack ..... Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White added that Friday night's U.S. strikes against Syria "does not represent a change in U.S. policy," and the the U.S. doesÃâà...
Al-Monitor
April 16, 2018
Immediately after the airstrikes, US Defense Department officials announced that the goal was to destroy Assad's chemical weapons program. The United States clearly stated that these strikes were conducted neither to alter the course of current US policy nor to depose the Assad regime. Upon hearing thisÃâà...
The Guardian
April 16, 2018
While it is unusual for a French president to present himself as driving US policy on military matters in the Middle East, Macron and Trump have developed a friendly relationship over the past year. Macron invited Trump to Bastille day celebrations last year and will travel to Washington on a state visit thisÃâà...
CNN
April 16, 2018
US policy towards Syria is incoherent. Shortly before he was fired, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson set aside $200 million to stabilize northern Syria, where Kurdish-led militias who defeated ISIS are supported by some 2,000 US troops. There were plans to build a 30,000-strong border protection force.
New York Times
April 15, 2018
“However, I don't think the strike clarifies U.S. policy,” said Meghan O'Sullivan, who oversaw the Iraq war as Mr. Bush's deputy national security adviser. “In theory, there is not necessarily an inconsistency between a targeted, multilateral strike against chemical weapons sites and the withdrawal of troopsÃâà...
Vox
April 14, 2018
The US policy is now to bomb Assad any time he launches a mass-casualty chemical attack. And it's not like chemical weapons are completely unheard of in Syria: Assad's forces have used them over 200 times since the beginning of the civil war, according to a tally by chemical weapons expert RebeccaÃâà...
New York Times
April 14, 2018
This article has been updated to reflect news developments. President Trump's announcement Friday night that the United States, France and Britain had launched airstrikes against Syria in response to a chemical weapons attack might have surprised the people who listened to him campaigning in 2016,Ãâà...
NPR
April 8, 2018
Now, nearly a year ago to the day, President Trump ordered airstrikes on Syria after an alleged chemical attack. You supported that decision. Do you think there needs to be a similar response now? ROUNDS: I think last year, when it occurred, he was a new president. He sent a message, I believe, that wasÃâà...
Sputnik International
April 1, 2018
The French are clearly pursuing US policy in Syria and have been from the very start of the war. They don't have an independent policy in the Middle East and haven't had an independent policy since Chirac. France is clearly working on behalf of the United States and I think that will be my reading of it rightÃâà...
Ahval
April 1, 2018
The Syria expert thinks that the reason "Turkey chose to strike Afrin" was because "the United States was not protecting" the area where "where PKK, YPG or ... is so narrow and disregards the political realities of Syria," while underlining that Turkey's Afrin operation is one of the consequences of U.S. policy.
The National
April 1, 2018
Two days ago, Mr Trump declared that the US would withdraw from Syria “very soon”, to the surprise of all those who have followed US policy declarations. So was Mr Trump's shock announcement a gaffe or have geopolitical developments and realpolitik now brought about a new strategy in the region?
Deutsche Welle
April 1, 2018
Asked what his advice to US policy makers would be, he said: "Anything that would not be interpreted as appeasement could be considered as a sober advice for the US policy makers in handling Turkey over northern Syria. However, I am also aware that sobriety is not a particular trait of the currentÃâà...
NBCNews.com
March 31, 2018
KOBANI, Syria — The secret military base here is the epicenter of a four-year-old U.S.-led war against the Islamic State that American commanders say has succeeded in killing ... NBC News agreed not to reveal the officials' identities because they were not authorized to discuss U.S. policy in Syria publicly.
USNI News
March 28, 2018
... Tayyip Erdogan (pronounced air-doe-wan), may be contributing to problems between the United States and Turkey by ruling in an increasingly authoritarian manner and apparently encouraging strong criticism of U.S. policy in Turkish public discourse. Conflict around Turkey's borders with Syria and Iraq,Ãâà...
Center for Research on Globalization
March 28, 2018
There is hardly any doubt that one of the cardinal objectives now of the US policy in Syria is to drive the Iranians out of the country as a means to roll back the influence Iran has gained through its success in not only battling out the Islamic State but also in defeating the US war of 'regime change' on Syria.
The American Conservative
March 26, 2018
Appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee this month, CENTCOM commander General Joseph L. Votel set about talking straight on Syria. Votel, in a colloquy with Senator Lindsey Graham that was refreshing for its brevity and candor, acknowledged that the principal ambition of U.S. policyÃâà...
TASS
March 14, 2018
British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to unveil tough measures against Russia on Wednesday over the alleged poisoning of former Russian military intelligence Colonel Sergey Skripal in the UK, Kommersant writes. She earlier accused Moscow of what she described as an "unlawful use of force"Ãâà...
Sputnik International
March 14, 2018
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US policy on Syria will not change following the decision by President Donald Trump to fire Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, former ... With respect to the war in Syria, the former diplomat said all sides are "losing," evidenced by the destruction and millions of refugees and internallyÃâà...
Al-Monitor
March 14, 2018
So the outcome on Ghouta is really a litmus test for the new US policy on Syria,” Akhmedov said. The stated arguments reflect broader intellectual and political discussions on how to amend Moscow's course in Syria and counter what is increasingly seen as a more assertive US posture. Russia's toughÃâà...
TIME
March 12, 2018
In the end, U.S. policy in Syria rests on the U.S. and Turkey working together. Turkey is currently engaged in Operation Olive Branch against Syrian Kurds in the northern Syrian city of Afrin, to stabilize its own southern border and to prevent the establishment of a Kurdish statelet. The problem is that the U.S.Ãâà...
Foreign Policy (blog)
March 7, 2018
But the United States did not intervene in Syria in 2011 when the regime there was challenged, and the result was still war and chaos. Though the media has interpreted the past decade and a half of armed conflict in the Levant exclusively through the failure of U.S. policy, the fact that the policy in Syria wasÃâà...
Foreign Policy (blog)
March 5, 2018
Israelis can be forgiven for some confusion about what the current U.S. policy is. In a January 17 speech on Syria, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson identified five objectives for the 2,000 U.S. special forces members that have remained in the country following the defeat of the Islamic State. Among these:Ãâà...
WBUR
February 27, 2018
Noah Bonsey, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group: "It's fair to say the US policy options in Syria were never good and never easy, and they've gotten steadily worse and harder as the war has gone on.” Ambassador Frederic Hoff, Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East: “I thinkÃâà...
CNBC
February 23, 2018
Essentially, it's an assault by Turkish forces on the Kurdish enclaves in Northern Syria to force the YPG away from the borders. "What's happened in Afrin is bringing the contradictions of U.S. policy to the forefront," Sloat said. "The move to build a border security force has led Turkey to further doubt the U.S.Ãâà...
Brookings Institution (blog)
February 21, 2018
Useful as it may be to pretend that the war business in Syria goes as usual, Moscow can hardly hope that its eroded positions would go unnoticed by the antagonists who are busy advancing theirs. Russia still has important assets in Syria and is exploiting the confusion in U.S. policy around the Iraq/SyriaÃâà...
Daily Sabah
February 13, 2018
American foreign policy on Syria is not sustainable. When we look closely at the U.S.'s tactics and strategies, it's evident that there are many problems, paradoxes and ironies regarding policy. The main problem is that the U.S. government has already declared that the PKK is a terrorist organization.
Sputnik International
December 31, 1999
With the Syrian Army continuing to advance against hardline Islamist militants in Damascus' East Ghouta region, there is very little doubt that the Syrian government has survived the conflict, and, provided there isn't any large-scale anti-Assad foreign military intervention, the Syrian Army will continue toÃâà...
