Middle East Eye quotes Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East Resident Fellow Faysal Itani on the flaws in the current US strategy to defeat ISIS in Syria:
The current US strategy cannot defeat ISIS. It is misaligned with the priorities and capabilities of the forces and peoples on the ground that are needed for success. In Iraq, the idea of backing the central government against ISIS is sound, but its execution is flawed. In Syria, we do not see a coherent strategy, full stop. Washington’s train-and-equip effort to build an indigenous fighting force against ISIS is divorced from the broader realities of the conflict. The United States struggles to attract recruits among Sunni Arabs, who see Assad as an equal, if not greater threat than ISIS. The Pentagon’s slow and restrictive recruitment process makes it difficult to build a force which, even if it reaches a total strength of 15,000 over three years, cannot defeat ISIS. Overall, looking at both countries, the idea of defeating ISIS in Iraq, only for it to survive in Syria, is not logical.