Ideas
The Mothers Who Fled the Turkish Incursion
Attacks by Turkish-backed forces shattered a hard-won pseudo-normalcy for Syrian women who had lived under ISIS.
Ideas
Betraying The Kurds Makes Things Harder for US Operators Everywhere
It will henceforth be much more difficult for U.S. combat forces and advisors to get help from local partners around the world.
Threats
The Mad Scramble for Syria
After weeks of chaos in the northeast, great powers redrew a small chunk of the map. And a bigger story is just beginning.
Policy
McConnell Asked White House For Sanctions Position, Dem Senator Says
The Senate majority leader is weighing the myriad sanctions proposals on the Hill, Sen. Van Hollen said at the Defense One Outlook 2020 conference.
Threats
The US Might Have Warded Off Turkey’s Syria Invasion, Says DOD’s Outgoing Mideast Policy Chief
U.S. and Turkish officials were shoring up a joint-patrol deal when Trump scuttled it.
Ideas
It’s Not All Trump’s Fault: Syria Shows the Danger of War on the Cheap
America’s surprise withdrawal is deeply destabilizing, but so is the proxy war that Western countries have fought for five years.
Ideas
Pay More Attention to the Women of ISIS
Many are victims of the terrorist group. But others have demonstrated their resolve to use violence and seek revenge for the Caliphate.
Threats
General: Trump Pullout Did Not Affect Baghdadi Raid Timing
“We struck because the time was about right,” said CENTCOM’s Gen. Frank McKenzie, of intelligence and other factors.
Policy
Pentagon Vows to Guard the Syrian Oil That Trump Wants to Seize
That includes warding off Syrian and Russian forces, SecDef Esper says, with murky justification under domestic and international law.
Ideas
Syrian Women Helped Find Baghdadi, Beat ISIS, Will Face ‘Tough Time’ Ahead, Leader Says
'We will continue our resistance and our struggle,' says the head of the all-women’s YPJ, in a rare interview.
Threats
ISIS Leader Baghdadi Killed Himself During US Special Ops Raid, Trump Confirms
Trump claims, against the evidence, that killing Baghdadi was administration's "top national security priority."
Ideas
What Was the Point of the Syria ‘Withdrawal’?
Donald Trump, who vowed to get troops out of Syria altogether, incurred all the strategic costs without getting any of the political benefit.
Threats
US Troops, Armor Will ‘Secure’ Oil Fields in Syria, Says SecDef in New Reversal
The U.S. might also maintain “one of our two airfields that are there,” said America’s envoy to Syria to lawmakers.
Threats
Trump Declares Victory in Syria, Claims Credit for It All
“Let someone else fight over this long-bloodstained sand,” the president says, as Congress fumes.
Threats
We're Still In the Fight, Trump’s Syria Envoy Tells Congress
Amb. Jim Jeffrey denied the U.S. withdrawal has ceded influence to Russia, and declined to reveal his personal opinion of it.
Ideas
10 Ways America’s Situation in the Middle East Will Get Worse
The Syrian pullout and the Iraqi instability are undermining U.S. national-security interests.
Ideas
How to Protect America After the Syria Withdrawal
Fighting ISIS just got harder—but it’s still possible, and it’s necessary.
Ideas
What the US Can Learn From Iranian Warfare
Tehran's approach to proxy wars offers a surprising lesson.
Threats
Top SDF Commander: Turkey Blocking Kurds’ Retreat; Urges Trump to ‘Stop This War’
“I am asking President Trump right now to fulfill his promise to us and stop this war,” Mazlum Abdi told Defense One by phone.
Threats