Syria

Ahead of Erdogan’s visit to Washington, insiders are pessimistic that the Geneva talks will lead to a political solution for Syria.

The debacle over Syria shows that neither party understands the country’s real goals in the Middle East—or what it would take to achieve them.

The Pentagon’s Middle East policy chief decries new recruitment of children in Syria and the Yemen civil war.

Turkey’s plans in Syria are part of a long and dark history of population transfer stretching back to the Ottoman era.

The key question is whether U.S. troops have legal authority to fire on Syrian, Russian, or Iranian forces.

Safe zones rarely bring security benefits, and the Turkish incursion in northern Syria risks ending the same way as Israel’s disastrous occupation of southern Lebanon.

The Syrian revolution was started by patriots—and ended by international jihadis supported by the United States.

In an interview, James Mattis’s onetime speechwriter criticizes Trump’s treatment of long-standing U.S. partners like the Syrian Kurds.

Neither Trump nor the international relations experts who cheered his choice to withdraw U.S. troops have wrestled adequately with the costs of departure.

The global order has been stuck with states since 1648. It’s time to move on.

The withdrawal from Syria is part of a broader pattern of weakness, especially in response to Iran.

Beginning with special representative James Jeffrey, U.S. officials consistently misread the threat from Turkey.

With Washington’s policy in chaos and Erdogan moving into Putin’s orbit, Moscow has come out on top.

Killing the Islamic State leader will not kill his ideas.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death won’t eliminate the threat of Islamist extremism so long as autocratic regimes continue to hold sway in the Middle East.