December 09, 2024
Washington Needs a New Syria Policy Right Now
By the time you read this, the Syrian civil war might be over. The 13-year conflict, stuck in a bloody stalemate for the last three years, caught fire last week. What began as a small offensive push by opposition force Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) became a rout as the regime’s remaining forces collapsed and ended with the opposition marching through Damascus and Bashar al-Assad fleeing the country his family brutally ruled for more than five decades.
National security officials in the United States came to work Monday morning in need of a new strategy and policy for Syria. Even before this historic breakthrough, one was long overdue. Since the onset of Syria’s civil war in 2011, and over the course of three U.S. presidential administrations, U.S. policy on Syria has been seriously flawed.
It is well past time for Washington to demonstrate leadership, advance its global and regional interests, and support the freedom and future of the Syrian people.
Every choice was risky, producing decision paralysis that remained in evidence as recently as last week. When HTS’s offensive began, the U.S. State Department issued a flaccid joint statement with Britain, France, and Germany calling for de-escalation and urging the parties to pursue a negotiated settlement, as outlined in a 9-year-old U.N. Security Council resolution that was as meaningless to the warring parties today as it was the day it passed.
Now with the regime finally toppled by force, which was the only way Assad was ever going to be compelled to leave, the Biden administration, in coordination with the Trump transition team, has no choice but to try to find a new way forward.
Read the full article on Foreign Policy.
More from CNAS
-
Sharper: Iran and the Axis of Upheaval
Commentary
Despite suffering geopolitical setbacks since Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel, a potentially nuclear Iran continues to pose a significant threat to U.S. and allied interes...
By Delaney Soliday & Charles Horn
-
Ziemba: Trump, Gaza Plan Unlikely to Come to Fruition
Video
Rachel Ziemba, an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), discusses Donald Trump's proposal that the US should take control of the devastated G...
By Rachel Ziemba
-
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
