Syria

It is painfully clear that no serious attempt is being made to resolve the Syrian crisis. There seems to be a certain fatigue in the international community combined with a belief that it is beyond human ingenuity to bring an end to the crisis; the world has to learn to live with it.

• K. P. Fabian
• May 26, 2014
• IDSA Comments

The UN is convening a conference on Syria in Montreux from January 22 with 30 odd states including India attending the meet. While the US is standing in the way of Iran’s participation, Russia has stated clearly that Iran’s absence will prevent the conference from delivering the intended results.

• K. P. Fabian
• January 20, 2014
• IDSA Comments

The protracted sectarian conflict in Syria has brought focus on its chemical and biological weapons capability. The West contemplated that the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria might use chemical weapons… Continue reading The Fear of Syrian Chemical and Biological Weapons

• Saurabh Mishra
• January-June 2014
• CBW Magazine

The conflict in Syria is inexorably turning into a quagmire as more entities get dragged into the sludge. From a hands-off policy to one of humanitarian support, the West has progressed to arming rebels, while Russia has shown that it is determined not to let down its ally by continuing arms shipments to the Assad regime.

• Manmohan Bahadur
• January 2014
• Strategic Analysis

A solution to the Syrian crisis is unlikely to emerge with either Assad in power or in the existing circumstances of the military stand-off. A political solution will have to be imposed from outside, possibly an understanding between the US and Russia with tacit consent of China.

• Gautam Sen
• October 22, 2013
• IDSA Comments

The joint OPCW-UN team mandated to assist Syria with the elimination of its chemical weapon programme by mid-2014 may not be realistic. As in the case of Russia and the US, the deadline for the destruction of stockpile of chemical weapons has shifted considerably.

• Sudarshan Bhutani
• October 17, 2013
• Issue Brief

The emerging doctrine of intervention is built around the ability of the international community, mainly the US-led western alliance, to impose its collective will in order to restore a deteriorating situation or to prevent a nascent conflict from burgeoning into full blown war with wider ramifications.

• Gurmeet Kanwal
• September 13, 2013
• IDSA Comments

New energy find in West Asia will set forth new political equations. Syria alone has discovered huge proven gas, oil and shale reserves. Whether the Assad regime survives or a change of regime happens there would determine the global gas system in a large way.

• Gulshan Dietl
• September 09, 2013
• IDSA Comments

It is not so much because of the use of chemical weapons that will unleash US fire-power, but the fact that the Assad regime might be winning the civil war in conjunction with its Iranian and Hezbollah allies.

• R. S. Kalha
• September 04, 2013
• IDSA Comments

Into its third year, the Syrian conflict has been fuelled by a multiplicity of interest groups and countries, overshadowing the initial cause of the protests. Gains for either side in Syria have come to mean corresponding losses for different regional and international stakeholders.

• Melissa M. Cyrill
• July 08, 2013
• Issue Brief