While limited surgical strikes may restore US credibility, they fall far short of changing the balance of forces in Syria, and take us no closer to a resolution of this conflict. The baseline scenario for Syria, sans a major US intervention, is a prolonged sectarian war wherein many different groups fight it out to control territory and influence, with the country increasingly becoming a safe haven for a resurgent al Qaeda and a source of regional and global instability. When the conflict dies down, battle-hardened radical Islamist insurgents will emanate out to throughout the world spreading terror, in a repeat of what we saw in the aftermath of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
A Solution to the Syria Conundrum
A Solution to the Syria Conundrum
A Solution to the Syria Conundrum
While limited surgical strikes may restore US credibility, they fall far short of changing the balance of forces in Syria, and take us no closer to a resolution of this conflict. The baseline scenario for Syria, sans a major US intervention, is a prolonged sectarian war wherein many different groups fight it out to control territory and influence, with the country increasingly becoming a safe haven for a resurgent al Qaeda and a source of regional and global instability. When the conflict dies down, battle-hardened radical Islamist insurgents will emanate out to throughout the world spreading terror, in a repeat of what we saw in the aftermath of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.