Syria

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 […]

Syria: Getting Past the Chemicals

By Frederic C. Hof

The Obama administration and its Secretary of State take pride in achieving, with the cooperation of Russia, a chemical weapons framework agreement and a supporting United Nations Security Council resolution.

The Rational Syrian Rebel

By Faysal Itani

An Islamist rebel coalition is emerging in Syria, deepening the irrelevance of the US-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC) and further eroding US influence in the conflict.

Rasmussen: ‘NATO Could Play a Coordinating Role’ in Syria

By Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor

[NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh] Rasmussen, whose five-year term ends next summer, sat down in New York with the Monitor to discuss Syria

US Non-Recognition of the Syrian Interim Government

By Frederic C. Hof

Things have not been going well for Syrians opposed to the Assad regime, especially those who favor a united, constitutional, non-sectarian Syria. No news here: this has been the case since 1970, and particularly since March 2011.