Syria

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Hard Truths in Syria

With the impending troop reductions decreed by Trump, Washington must lower its sights in Syria. It should focus on protecting only two interests: preventing ISIS from coming back and stopping Iran from establishing a fortified military presence there that might threaten Israel.

Brett McGurk

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Coronavirus Mar 23, 2020 Snapshot

The Coronavirus Is Exacerbating Sectarian Tensions in the Middle East

In the Middle East, the COVID-19 outbreak is straining frail public health services and exacerbating preexisting political and sectarian tensions, both within states...

Toby Matthiesen

Humanitarian Intervention Feb 24, 2020 Snapshot

Washington Must Protect Syrians Fleeing Idlib

A Syrian-Russian victory in Idlib is not far off, and millions of civilians have nowhere to go except to try to escape to Europe. Washington must start laying the...

Robert S. Ford

Economics Feb 18, 2020 Snapshot

Time to Recommit to Syria

The United States must recognize that the conflict in Syria is unlikely to end in the near future.

Jennifer Cafarella

Residential buildings destroyed by government forces in eastern Aleppo, Syria, June 2019

Presidential Impeachment Jan 29, 2020 Comment

The Wounded Presidency, Part Two

The Nixon and Clinton cases show that while those presidents occasionally breached the barrier between domestic politics and foreign policy, they knew that they...

Timothy Naftali

Politics & Society Jan 17, 2020 Snapshot

Bashar al-Assad’s Hollow Victory

Assad’s victory will be a Pyrrhic one, leaving him burdened by war profiteers and subservient to external powers.

Lina Khatib

Trump Administration Jan 10, 2020 Snapshot

The Dangerous Unraveling of the U.S.-Turkish Alliance

Allies for nearly seven decades, Turkey and the United States are now at loggerheads. Both the Trump administration and Congress can take important steps to prevent...

Philip H. Gordon and Amanda Sloat

resident Donald Trump and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey at the White House in Washington, DC, November 2019

Trump Administration Nov 13, 2019 Snapshot

Why Trump’s Shapeshifting Syria Policy Worked—Until It Didn’t

The Trump administration’s Syria policy resembled a Rorschach inkblot—an ambiguous shape to which observers could ascribe their own preferred meaning. But in October,...

Frances Z. Brown

A convoy of U.S. vehicles in Iraq after withdrawing from northern Syria, October 2019

Terrorism & Counterterrorism Oct 23, 2019 Snapshot

The Coming ISIS Jailbreak

The Strategy That Enabled the Caliphate’s Rise Just Became Viable Again

Aki Peritz

Middle East Oct 16, 2019 Snapshot

ISIS Is Already Rising From the Ashes

Turkey’s Invasion of Syria Will Fuel a Jihadi Resurgence

Brian Katz and Michael Carpenter

kurd Oct 16, 2019 Snapshot

Dashing Kurdish Hopes Will Not Bring Erdogan Peace

What was recently Kurdish territory will likely be divided between Ankara and Damascus, an outcome that marks the end of the dream of Kurdish autonomy, at least for...

Henri J. Barkey

Kurds protesting the Turkish offensive, Erbil, Iraq, October 2019

Trump Administration Oct 9, 2019 Snapshot

Turkey’s Endgame in Syria

Turkey’s strategy is more than an exercise in geopolitics—for Erdogan, it touches on his very political survival.

Gonul Tol

A Turkish military convoy near the Turkish-Syrian border, October 2019

War & Military Strategy November/December 2019 Review Essay

How a Caliphate Ends

Anne Barnard reviews a book by a journalist embedded with Iraqi soldiers during the government's reconquest of Mosul.

Reviewed by Anne Barnard

War & Military Strategy Aug 16, 2019 Snapshot

Syria Changed the Iranian Way of War

To get a sense of the playbook that Tehran might consult in any future conflict with the United States, Washington should pay close attention to what the Iranians have...

Ariane M. Tabatabai

Protesters wear masks of Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad at a protest near the U.S. embassy in Berlin, August 2012

Terrorism & Counterterrorism Jun 6, 2019 Snapshot

Jihadists Head Home

Western ISIS fighters and their children are stuck in camps and prisons in northern Syria and Iraq. Their governments don’t want to take them back—and are resorting to...

Jytte Klausen

Women at an IDP camp in northeastern Syria, April 2019

U.S. Foreign Policy Apr 9, 2019 Snapshot

Saving Northeastern Syria

By using American aid and investment to promote the economic integration of Turkey and northeastern Syria, Washington can foster improved relations between the Turks...

Merve Tahiroglu and Andrew Gabel

SDF fighters near Baghouz, in eastern Syria, March 2019

Trump Administration May/June 2019 Essay

Hard Truths in Syria

With the impending troop reductions decreed by Trump, Washington must lower its sights in Syria. It should focus on protecting only two interests: preventing ISIS from...

Brett McGurk

Civil Society March/April 2019 Essay

The Kurdish Awakening

The United States’ actions in the Middle East have helped promote a new Kurdish nationalism.

Henri J. Barkey

This land is our land: Kurdish peshmerga forces in Makhmur, Iraq, August 2014.

Strategy & Conflict Jan 22, 2019 Snapshot

The Scramble for Northeast Syria

If the United States withdraws from northeast Syria, it will be forced to watch from the sidelines as a race for influence over the region unfolds between Turkey,...

Aaron Stein

Trump Administration Jan 16, 2019 Snapshot

What Syria Stands to Lose

U.S. policy in northeast Syria is working: a modest investment of U.S. tax dollars has allowed a fragile stability to hold in a place that once served as a hotbed of...

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

Trump Administration Jan 9, 2019 Snapshot

If Trump Wants to Get Out of Syria, He Should Strike a Deal With Russia

The best way to get out of Syria is to hand responsibility over to Russia.

Ilan Goldenberg and Nicholas A. Heras

U.S. troops patrol near Turkish border in Hasakah, Syria, November 4, 2018.

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Hard Truths in Syria

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The Coronavirus Is Exacerbating Sectarian Tensions in the Middle East

Washington Must Protect Syrians Fleeing Idlib

Time to Recommit to Syria

The Wounded Presidency, Part Two

Bashar al-Assad’s Hollow Victory

The Dangerous Unraveling of the U.S.-Turkish Alliance

Why Trump’s Shapeshifting Syria Policy Worked—Until It Didn’t

The Coming ISIS Jailbreak

ISIS Is Already Rising From the Ashes

Dashing Kurdish Hopes Will Not Bring Erdogan Peace

Turkey’s Endgame in Syria

How a Caliphate Ends

Syria Changed the Iranian Way of War

Jihadists Head Home

Saving Northeastern Syria

Hard Truths in Syria

The Kurdish Awakening

The Scramble for Northeast Syria

What Syria Stands to Lose

If Trump Wants to Get Out of Syria, He Should Strike a Deal With Russia

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Hard Truths in Syria

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