As the United States scrambles to establish ties with emerging leaders in the Syrian opposition, President Barack Obama's administration is trying hard to avoid an exile-centric strategy that risks repeating the debacle of Iraq.
Steven Heydemann, a Middle East expert at the US Institute of Peace (USIP), who at the behest of the administration has been working with Syrian opposition figures for 10 months on a “day after” strategy for Syria, told Al-Monitor that Syrians active in the fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime have been able to join in discussions outside the country about a political transition. That includes a conference Heydemann attended this week in Cairo.