Good news from the Levant
No, I‘m not talking about a premature and too narrow cease-fire agreement in Lebanon but about the liberation of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo from the clutches of a withering Assad regime that evidently can’t escape perpetual decline.
Russia‘s overextension in Ukraine, Israel‘s decimation of Hezbollah‘s combat power and Iran‘s focus on its increasingly direct confrontation with Israel opens the door for further gains in Syria by anti-Assad forces of all stripes. Once the epicenter of the Arab Spring in Syria, Aleppo is now again - after 8 long years under the joch of the Syrian army and the regime‘s henchmen - a symbol for the frailty of the Assad regime. A regime that should‘ve been toppled with more robust US support back in 2011-12.
It‘s time to capitalize on the propitious geopolitical circumstances and to let the Syrian people press their advantage against Damascus.
Turkey‘s green-light for the operation is a promising sign and a step away from their previous attempts to reconcile with the regime. Instead, the US has another opportunity now to coordinate the intensification of a pressure campaign brought to bear on Assad and his allies from all sides and angles. That would mean more Israeli strikes on the IRGC-QF and Iranian-affiliated groups located in Southern Syria combined with US strikes on pro-Iranian assets as well as the Syrian Army and the Baathist apparatus itself. An increased US presence north of the Euphrates and around the al-Tanf garrison, and a redirection of Turkish efforts away from the anti-SDF campaigns and towards the aim of growing a sphere of anti-regime control in Syria‘s North East. The US should liaise with the HTS leadership to ensure that the strategic objectives of the group and the US can be harmonized.
Russia‘s overextension in Ukraine, Israel‘s decimation of Hezbollah‘s combat power and Iran‘s focus on its increasingly direct confrontation with Israel opens the door for further gains in Syria by anti-Assad forces of all stripes. Once the epicenter of the Arab Spring in Syria, Aleppo is now again - after 8 long years under the joch of the Syrian army and the regime‘s henchmen - a symbol for the frailty of the Assad regime. A regime that should‘ve been toppled with more robust US support back in 2011-12.
It‘s time to capitalize on the propitious geopolitical circumstances and to let the Syrian people press their advantage against Damascus.
Turkey‘s green-light for the operation is a promising sign and a step away from their previous attempts to reconcile with the regime. Instead, the US has another opportunity now to coordinate the intensification of a pressure campaign brought to bear on Assad and his allies from all sides and angles. That would mean more Israeli strikes on the IRGC-QF and Iranian-affiliated groups located in Southern Syria combined with US strikes on pro-Iranian assets as well as the Syrian Army and the Baathist apparatus itself. An increased US presence north of the Euphrates and around the al-Tanf garrison, and a redirection of Turkish efforts away from the anti-SDF campaigns and towards the aim of growing a sphere of anti-regime control in Syria‘s North East. The US should liaise with the HTS leadership to ensure that the strategic objectives of the group and the US can be harmonized.
