Following an October 26 American commando raid across the Syrian border has resulted in Syria cutting diplomatic ties with Iraq.
The Syrian government has backed anti-American protests in Damascus.
Fred Kaplan calls the raid "a dangerous new escalation of the war on terror".
Two questions, then: Why Syria, and why now?
The bottom line: This will harm relations between the U.S. and Syria.
Well, the world just keeps on getting more interesting. While the pre-Iraq Attack assumption that regime change in Baghdad would shake up the Middle East proved correct, the consequences have not been as predicted. Okay, so that's understatement.
UPDATE--Andrew Lebovich at the Washington Note calls this action a setback for American foreign policy:
In threatening to destabilize the country, we run the risk of driving Syria closer to Iran, as America eventually draws down its troop levels and Iran solidifies its power in the region.
Isolated strikes to kill or capture Al Qaeda leaders can be an effective tool in weakening the organization. But by wantonly violating Syria's sovereignty purely to send a message, we risk putting ourselves, our armed forces and our allies in increasingly untenable positions and threaten the future of the security of the region as a whole.
No comments:
Post a Comment