The Daily Beast quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Senior Fellow Frederic C. Hof on the ways in which the nuclear deal allows Iran to support Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad:

Tellingly, Obama didn’t mention Syria once in his White House press conference today—an ominous sign, according to Frederic Hof, a Senior Fellow at the Washington DC-based Atlantic Council and a former State Department policy planner on Syria under the current White House. “The administration decided not to table Tehran support for Assad’s mass homicide in Syria,” Hof said. “Now that the nuclear agreement has been reached, it is essential for the United States to pivot immediately to civilian protection and political transition in Syria.”

Moreover, Assad’s brutal attacks against civilians, including the use of barrel bombs, are “marvelous recruiting tools” for ISIS, Hof added, particularly among Syrians desperate for protection and young Sunnis around the world who see the terror group as the only alternative to regime-sanctioned brutality.

Read the full article here.

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