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- Title
ARMED CONFLICT IN SYRIA: OVERVIEW AND U.S. RESPONSE.
- Authors
Blanchard, Christopher M.; Humud, Carla E.; Nikitin, Mary Beth D.
- Abstract
The expanding international confrontation with the insurgent terrorist group known as the Islamic State (IS, aka the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant or ISIL/ISIS) has reshaped long-standing debates over U.S. policy toward the ongoing civil conflict in Syria, now in its fifth year. The Islamic State controls large areas of northeastern and central Syria, from which it continues to launch assaults on forces opposed to and aligned with the government of President Bashar al Asad. Meanwhile, fighting elsewhere pits government forces and their foreign allies against a range of anti-government insurgents, some of whom have received limited U.S. assistance. Since March 2011, the conflict has driven more than four million Syrians into neighboring countries as refugees (out of a total population of more than 22 million). More than 7.5 million other Syrians are internally displaced and are among those in need of humanitarian assistance, of which the United States remains the largest bilateral provider, with more than $4 billion in U.S. funding identified to date. The United States also has allocated nearly $400 million to date for nonlethal assistance to select opposition groups. President Obama requested $385 million in FY2015 and FY2016 Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) funding for further opposition assistance. FY2016 requests also seek an additional $600 million in Defense funding for a train and equip program for vetted Syrians first authorized by Congress in 2014, and more than $1.6 billion in Syria-related FY2016 humanitarian assistance and refugee crisis response funding. Syrian officials have stated their conditional willingness to serve as partners with the international community in counterterrorism operations in Syria, a position that reflects their apparent desire to create an image and role for the Asad government as a bulwark against Sunni Islamist extremism. However, the Obama Administration and several Members of Congress have rejected the prospect of counterterrorism partnership with President Asad, and Administration officials continue to call for a political transition and describe Asad as having lost legitimacy. Some Members of Congress and observers argue that the United State should seek to remove Asad from power or act militarily to protect Syrian civilians. Others express concern that disorderly regime change could further empower extremists or that civilian protection missions could prolong the conflict or involve the United States and its partners too deeply in stabilizing Syria over the long run. U.S. officials and Members of Congress continue to debate how best to pursue U.S. regional security and counterterrorism goals in Syria without inadvertently strengthening the Asad government. Similar questions arise in relation to options for countering the Islamic State without bolstering other anti-U.S. Islamists and vice versa. Anti-Asad armed forces and their activist counterparts have improved their coordination in some cases, but remain divided over tactics, strategy, and their long-term political goals for Syria. Powerful Islamist forces seek outcomes that are contrary in significant ways to stated U.S. preferences for Syria's political future. The United Nations Security Council has demanded a halt to the use of chemicals as a weapon of war in the country and seeks continued Asad government cooperation with plans to verifiably dismantle its chemical weapons program. The 114th Congress is now considering proposed appropriations (H.R. 2685, S. 1558, and H.R. 2772) and authorization legislation (H.R. 1735) related to Syria as well as proposals to authorize the use of military force against the Islamic State.
- Subjects
ISLAMIC State (Organization); SYRIA-United States relations; ASSAD, Bashar, 1965-; SYRIAN Civil War, 2011-; AMERICAN humanitarian assistance; OBAMA, Barack, 1961-
- Publication
International Journal of Terrorism & Political Hot Spots, 2015, Vol 10, Issue 4, p385
- ISSN
1932-7889
- Publication type
Article