April 09, 2018
One Year Ago, Pundits Welcomed a Turning Point in Syria. They Were Wrong.
A year ago, 59 U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles hit Syria’s Sharyrat airbase in response to a chemical weapons attack perpetrated by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This was supposed to usher in a new era of U.S. leadership in the Middle East. It didn’t.
From the moment the missiles flew, pundits and lawmakers across the political spectrum swooned at U.S. President Donald Trump’s decisiveness. They were giddy the United States was finally flexing its muscles after years of former President Barack Obama’s supposed fecklessness, and asserted that Trump would oversee a broader shift to a more vigorous U.S. military role in the Middle East. America’s regional partners, who had long wanted U.S. military action against Assad — and eventually, Iran — heaped praise on the new president. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke for many when he said, “this message of resolve in the face of the Assad regime’s horrific actions will resonate not only in Damascus, but in Tehran, Pyongyang, and elsewhere.”
Read the full article at Foreign Policy
More from CNAS
-
Sharper: Trump's First 100 Days
Commentary
Donald Trump takes office in a complex and volatile global environment. Rising tensions with China, the continued war in Ukraine, and instability in the Middle East all pose s...
By Charles Horn
-
Convene the E3 to Address the Iranian Nuclear Threat
Commentary
In its first 100 days, the Trump administration should convene the United Kingdom (UK), France, and Germany—the E3—to coordinate a strategy for dealing with Iran’s nuclear pro...
By Jonathan Lord
-
Tehran’s Proxies Are on the Back Foot. An Iran-Russia Defense Pact Could Revive Them.
Commentary
A renewed defense treaty between these two powers will render Iran’s web of proxies all the more dangerous by arming already destabilizing agents with more advanced weapons te...
By Delaney Soliday & Shivane Anand
-
Our Man in Damascus? Sanctions and Governance in Post-Assad Syria
Commentary
The complexity of the legal and policy issues presented by the sanctions thicket surrounding Syria—and the disparate authorities responsible for various parts of it—will requi...
By Alex Zerden
