by Russell A. Berman via Defining Ideas
There are powerful moral and strategic reasons to end a butcher's rule.
Turkey is not withdrawing troops from recently conquered Afrin in Kurdish-dominated Syria despite Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s request, according to presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin. Kalin said Turkish military forces planned to stay in Afrin with their Free Syrian Army allies after entering northern Syria on March 18 to battle the US-backed People’s Protection Units.
Meanwhile, Turkey is opening a new border crossing with Afrin, Turkish broadcaster NTV reports, giving Ankara more leverage in Syrian reconstruction efforts. The crossing aims to establish a commercial route to Aleppo and help return some refugees to Syria.
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- For Trump and his generals, ‘victory’ has different meanings
- U.S. forces in Syria: Building more outposts, pulling up lawn chairs
- Trump’s strategy sows uncertainty for U.S. companies in Iran
- CFR’s Richard Haass: U.S. withdrawal from Syria would be strategic defeat
(Asia Times) Three is company. But if the trilateral dialogue format in international diplomacy seldom produces concrete results, that is because it cannot be sequestered from external influences. Besides, the three participants are bound to have specific interests and priorities. The long-awaited Turkey-Russia-Iran trilateral summit in Ankara on April 4 has been no exception.
- "Assad's Horror, and Those Who Enable It," Thomas Joscelyn, The Weekly Standard
- "Trump and Syria," Thomas Joscelyn, The Weekly Standard
- "Analysis: A premature declaration of victory in Syria?," Thomas Joscelyn, FDD's Long War Journal
The Pentagon’s mission against the Islamic State in Syria remains open-ended despite President Trump’s promise of a quick U.S. withdrawal. Military leaders are focusing on pushing the once-powerful group out of the small foothold it controls in eastern Syria and ensuring that it cannot plot attacks against the United States, a task defense officials have suggested will require a U.S. footprint after the fighting stops. - Washington Post
Rebel fighters began leaving the devastated Syrian city of Douma on Sunday in the first phase of a Russian-sponsored deal to evacuate thousands of rebels from the besieged enclave, state media said. - Reuters
Former US Ambassador to Syria Ryan Crocker, Pavel Baev, and Michael O’Hanlon write: Trump deserves credit for his success in Syria, but it represents an interim goal, not a durable achievement. Withdrawing U.S. forces, security assistance, economic aid and diplomatic engagement risks allowing a war that has killed half a million and displaced 12 million to continue — or worse, to expand into a truly regional war. - USA Today