Despite the Western reaction, Assad, in power since 2000, looks set to govern for seven more years. His major task will be attempting to break armed opposition groups in Idlib and to repair a nation destroyed by 10 years of war and crippling sanctions.
Throughout living memory, U.S. covert operations have retained religious and nationalist extremists and compliant local chieftains to send wind-up toys to topple unfriendly “regimes.”
By all accounts, wherever the Islamic State has gained and held territory, its residents suffer terrible oppression and deprivation. Unless you are on their wavelength, you most likely agree that ISIS rule has been calamitous for its subjects. Both Obama and Trump have pointed out their badass nature on numerous occasions, not so
With the US having already directly targeted Syria’s military once, another move against them especially would risk provoking a Russian reaction, which could quickly spiral out of control.
In backing the rebels in the early part of the Syrian Civil War, the US was rather cynically engaging in a proxy war against Russia, angling for regime change in Russia’s main Mediterranean ally, and the host of their lone Mediterranean base. Syria’s been a source of tension ever since between the two countries, but as America’s direct ground
It’s still unclear what the plan is after Obama announced that the U.S. will arm certain Syrian rebels fighting the Russia-backed Assad government.
AMMAN, Jordan -- President Barack Obama’s decision to arm Syrian rebels will deepen U.S. involvement in a regional proxy war increasingly taking on sectarian overtones of pitting Sunni Muslims against Shiite Muslims.
“From now on, every suicide bombing in Damascus -- every war crime committed by the rebels -- will be
