Syria

Syria & Sectarianism: Drivers (Part I)

By Jonathan Paris

The Arab Spring accentuated two long-standing developments in the region: political Islam and Sunni-Shia sectarianism. While the path of political Islam is less certain following Egypt’s hot summer, the rise of sectarianism, especially in Syria, continues unabated.

US Offers Mobile Unit to Destroy Syria’s Chemical Weapons

By Anthony Deutsch and David Alexander, Reuters

The Pentagon is suggesting the world’s chemical weapons watchdog use a U.S.-made mobile destruction unit in Syria to neutralize the country’s toxic stockpile, officials told Reuters.

Syria: Geneva at What Price?

By Frederic C. Hof

The leader of the Syrian National Council, Mr. George Sabra, has announced that his group will leave the opposition Syrian National Coalition if the latter takes part in a Geneva peace conference under conditions currently prevailing in Syria.

Turkey’s Spymaster Plots Own Course on Syria

By Adam Entous and Joe Parkinson, Wall Street Journal

“Hakan Fidan [Turkey’s powerful spymaster] is the face of the new Middle East,” says James Jeffrey, who recently served as U.S. ambassador in Turkey and Iraq.

Syria: Russia’s Choice

By Frederic C. Hof

President Barack Obama’s preferred end-state for the Syrian crisis begins with the creation of a transitional governing body peopled on the basis of mutual consent, in negotiations between delegations representing the Syrian Arab Republic Government (SARG) and Syrians rejecting the governing legitimacy of the SARG and the regime that sits atop it.

CIA Ramping Up Covert Training Program for Moderate Syrian Rebels

By Greg Miller, Washington Post

The CIA is expanding a clandestine effort to train opposition fighters in Syria amid concern that moderate, U.S.-backed militias are rapidly losing ground in the country’s civil war, U.S. officials said.

Transcript: Prospects for Political Settlement in Syria

On October 3, the Atlantic Council convened a distinguished panel to discuss prospects for a political settlement to Syria’s civil war. Moderated by the Atlantic Council’s Executive Vice President Damon Wilson, the discussion explored the viewpoints of the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom—represented by Frederic C. Hof, senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s […]

Weighing Russia’s Syria Success

By Rajan Menon

Those who have bemoaned the acrimonious exchanges between the United States and Russia, watched with dismay as President Obama’s “reset” with Moscow (more of a marketing moniker than substantive policy) unraveled, and tried valiantly to insist that Russia remains a great power and ought to be respected and embraced by Washington as a partner have had their […]