Former US officials sound alarm on Biden's Syria policy - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Mar 27, 2023

Commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie testifies during a Senate Armed Services hearing on Capitol Hill March 15, 2022 in Washington, DC. The committee met to receive testimony on the posture of U.S. Central Command and U.S. Africa Command, two of the eleven unified combatant commands in the U.S. Department of Defense. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) — Commander of U.S. Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie testifies during a Senate Armed Services hearing on Capitol Hill March 15, 2022, in Washington, DC. — Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Seized drugs, including Captagon, are displayed for the media in the town of Marea, in the northern Aleppo countryside, on May 24, 2022, following clashes among different Turkey-backed factions in Syria. - A decade of appalling civil war has left Syria fragmented and in ruins but one thing crosses every frontline: the drug fenethylline, commercially known as captagon. The stimulant -- once notorious for its association with Islamic State fighters -- has spawned an illegal $10-billion industry that not only

Breaking | Last Updated: May 23, 2023, 2:50 pm

New US sanctions target Syria's Captagon trade linked to Assad

JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Intel: Biden faces bipartisan frustration over Syria policy

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

A Turkish military tank is seen in a destroyed neighbourhood of Sarmin town, about eight kilometres southeast of the city of Idlib in northwestern Syria, on March 10, 2020. - When protesters in March 2011 demanded their rights and regime change, they likely never imagined it would trigger a reaction that has led to the 21st century's biggest war. Nine years on, President Bashar al-Assad is still in power and there to stay, more than 380,000 people have died, dozens of towns and cities razed to the ground an

Biden leaves Syria on back burner as war marks 10 years

Elizabeth Hagedorn

Elizabeth Hagedorn

In Washington, DC, reporting on diplomacy, regional politics, human rights

U.S. ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey (L) speaks during a ceremony for the U.S. military to retire its ceremonial flags, signifying the end of military presence in Iraq, at the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center in Baghdad December 15, 2011. The U.S military officially ended its war in Iraq on Thursday, rolling up its flag at a low-key ceremony with Panetta nearly nine years after the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. This ceremony is called the "casing of the colors" and signifies the departing and inact

Pompeo names high-level Syria team as Trump looks for the exit

Laura Rozen