The main question after strikes on Syria: How does Russia respond?

For President Trump, choosing targets and launching cruise missiles to punish the Syrian regime for using chemical weapons this week may have been a relatively clear-cut decision. The big problem is what comes next. The military had been preparing options for a strike against President Bashar al-Assad since well before 2013, when the Syrian dictator […]

UN ambassador Nikki Haley alludes to US intervention in Syria after chemical attack

UN ambassador Nikki Haley seemed to hint at a possible US intervention in Syria on Wednesday during a UN Security Council meeting. During her address to the council, Haley harshly condemned the gas attack in Syria that killed dozens on Tuesday. She slammed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime as “barbaric” and said Tuesday’s attack had “all the hallmarks […]

Syrian Army reportedly kills dozens in suspected chemical attack

Multiple activist groups out of Syria are claiming that dozens of people, including at least ten children, were killed in a suspected chemical attack carried out in the city of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib, Syria on Tuesday morning. At least 200 more have been reportedly injured as a result of “poisonous gas” released via airstrike […]

Haley: U.S. policy in Syria no longer focused on removing Assad

The United States no longer believes removing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should be a foreign policy priority, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Thursday. The official policy under the Obama administration calling for Assad to step down started in the earliest stages of the Syrian Civil War as it began in 2011. […]

The Syrian war rages on

An article was released on Wednesday, March 15, by the Washington Post stating that the U.S. Military is drawing up plans to expand the presence of American troops in Northern Syria in the weeks ahead, potentially adding up to 1,000 ground troops to the region. According to the Post article, “[w]hile the new contingent of […]

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces prepared to assault Raqqa with American help

As the multitude of Syrian opposition forces converge for the offensive on Raqqa, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) claim they are prepared to take the ISIS stronghold with the help of their American supporters. The SDF made these statements as conflict between Turkey and the Syrian Kurdish contingent of the SDF continues to grow. Turkey’s […]

With a show of Stars and Stripes, U.S. forces in Syria try to keep warring allies apart

BEIRUT — The U.S. military is getting drawn into a deepening struggle for control over areas liberated from the Islamic State that risks prolonging American involvement in wars in Syria and Iraq long after the militants are defeated. In their first diversion from the task of fighting the Islamic State since the U.S. military’s involvement […]

U.S. support for YPG fighters frustrates Turkey, who calls them terrorists

The American campaign to remove the Islamic State from northern Syria continues to be complicated by the various armed groups and allegiances on the ground. Turkey, a critical ally for the United States in counter-terrorism operations in the region, has expressed great concern over American support for the Kurdish YPG, an armed group fighting against […]

Netanyahu to meet Putin, says Iran seeks permanent foothold in Syria

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday to voice opposition to what the Israeli leader charged were Iran’s attempts to establish a permanent military foothold in Syria. “In the framework of a (future peace agreement) or without one, Iran is attempting to base itself permanently in […]

Plan to defeat Islamic State will potentially increase military commitment in Syria

The Department of Defense’s plan to defeat the Islamic State, as directed by President Trump to Secretary of Defense James Mattis to prepare over a month ago, is complete and ready for the President. The plan reportedly reflects the rapidly changing conditions on the ground in Iraq and Syria against ISIS, where the terrorist group’s […]