US position in Syria is unclear in wake of Assad’s fall from energy

As a brand new authorities is about to type in Syria following a sudden coup earlier this week, america’ response to the political upheaval seems unsure.

Insurgent teams unexpectedly overthrew Syria’s longtime chief, Bashar al-Assad, on Dec. 8, 2024, sending the dictator into exile in Russia.

President Joe Biden has warned that the insurgent teams have a “grim file of terrorism” and mentioned that the U.S. will probably be watching the teams’ actions. However President-elect Donald Trump has mentioned that the U.S. mustn’t intervene within the sudden takeover and its aftermath.

Amy Lieberman, a politics and society editor at The Dialog U.S., spoke with Jordan Tama, a scholar of U.S. international coverage at American College, to raised perceive the position that the U.S. has performed in Syria – and what Assad’s sudden fall from energy may imply for this relationship.

What’s most vital to grasp about US engagement with Syria?

U.S. involvement in Syria dates again to not less than 2011, when the Arab Spring, a pro-democracy Center East protest motion, broke out and unfold to Syria.

This prompted a brutal crackdown by the Syrian authorities, led by Syrian chief al-Assad. Among the protesters then grew to become a part of insurgent teams in Syria and fought in opposition to the Assad authorities, ensuing in civil warfare. The U.S. instantly imposed heavy monetary sanctions on the federal government of Syria.

In 2013, the U.S. started offering arms to a number of the insurgent teams that had been resisting the Assad authorities. That 12 months, the Syrian army additionally crossed a “purple line” that had been set by then-President Barack Obama through the use of chemical weapons in opposition to civilians. Regardless of strain to implement the purple line, Obama opted to not intervene as soon as Assad agreed to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons – a dedication that Assad didn’t totally dwell as much as.

In 2014, the Islamic State group, usually generally known as ISIS or IS, took over elements of Syria. The U.S. deployed forces on to struggle IS in 2015. By 2019, the U.S. had severely weakened IS, and the U.S. scaled again its presence. The U.S. by no means accepted the Assad authorities’s legitimacy, however it did change into largely resigned to Assad’s rule.

What does US involvement presently appear to be?

The U.S. has remained concerned in Syria in a number of methods. First, it has about 900 troops deployed in some distant elements of Syria to forestall ISIS from regrouping.

Second, the U.S. has given greater than US$1 billion in army help to extra reasonable armed teams that resisted management by the Assad authorities. A lot of this assist has gone to the Syrian Democratic Forces, a army power led by the Kurds, a minority ethnic group that controls northeast Syria and has labored carefully with the U.S. on preventing ISIS whereas sustaining its opposition to Assad.

Third, the U.S. has stored heavy monetary sanctions in place in opposition to the Syrian authorities relationship again to 2011. And fourth, the U.S. has been offering humanitarian assist for Syrians struggling from the nation’s 13-year civil warfare.

The U.S. didn’t play a direct position within the current toppling of the Syrian authorities. The Syrian insurgent teams that overthrew Assad are primarily backed by Turkey, which seeks to weaken the Syrian department of one other Kurdish group referred to as the Kurdistan Employees’ Social gathering. Turkey views this group as a menace to manage over its personal Kurdish inhabitants.

What does the overthrow of the Assad authorities imply for the US?

The U.S. is just not but making any agency judgments about whether or not this alteration goes to be good for the U.S. General, Assad’s fall opens the potential of improved relations between the U.S. and Syria, however that may rely, largely, on the brand new management in Syria.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, the group that led the overthrow of Assad, has dominated in an authoritative method within the space of Syria it has already been controlling.

ISIS additionally represents a unbroken concern for the U.S. The U.S. has carried out a collection of strikes on ISIS targets in current days in an effort to forestall ISIS from gaining floor following the collapse of the Assad authorities.

What does Trump’s election imply for the US engagement in Syria?

Trump has taken the place that Syria is a large number and that it isn’t America’s drawback. Throughout his first time period, Trump needed to tug out all the remaining U.S. troops from Syria, and his advisers persuaded him to maintain a small variety of troops there. Whether or not Syria’s new leaders act in an authoritarian method probably received’t matter to Trump.

However Trump is strongly pro-Israel, and he’ll probably not have any drawback with Israel finishing up strikes in Syria.

Underneath Trump, the U.S. will most likely not be a serious participant shaping occasions in Syria, however I feel it’s within the nation’s curiosity to stay engaged, as a result of what occurs in Syria does have an effect on the remainder of the Center East – and, by extension, the U.S.