Antiwar.com

There has been a flurry of “What next for Syria?” articles in the wake of dictator Bashar al-Assad’s hurried exit from Syria and the takeover of much of the country by al-Qaeda’s rebranded local forces. Western governments and media have been quick to celebrate the success of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), even though the group … Continue reading “Israel, Not the ‘Liberators’ of Damascus, Will Decide Syria’s Fate”

Officials in the Biden administration are taking credit for creating conditions in Syria that enabled opposition forces to overthrow the Syrian government. Now that opposition forces have ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, administration officials are insisting that longstanding U.S. policies, including actions taken by the Biden administration against Assad’s supporters, made the overthrow of the … Continue reading “US Officials Take Credit for Regime Change in Syria”

If there was ever a moment that laid bare the utter stupidity and futility of Washington’s Empire First policy it surely is the smoking ruins of Syria that emerged last week. The latter was the desultory culmination of Washington’s 13-years-long effort to destroy the legitimate government of Syria on the grounds that Assad was a … Continue reading “A Case of the ‘Empire First’ Folly In Spades”

The Russian Armed Forces are pushing west through the Donbas region of Ukraine. Their advance has consistently been called slow, but this is no longer true. In October and November, Russia captured over 1,500 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory. The pace has continued in December, and Russia is advancing on as many as eight sections … Continue reading “Sometimes It Is Hard To Understand Volodymyr Zelensky”

Gaza, Haiti, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, and Venezuela: President-elect Donald Trump will face no shortage of foreign-policy challenges when he assumes office in January. None, however, comes close to China in scope, scale, or complexity. No other country has the capacity to resist his predictable antagonism with the same degree of strength and … Continue reading “Can Trump Trump China (or Vice Versa)?”

The collapse of Bashar Al-Assad’s Syrian government in late November and early December 2024 occurred with stunning speed. There was little question that Joe Biden’s administration and several U.S. allies, especially Turkey, were pleased with the outcome. Washington had worked diligently to force Assad from power since 2011, even though the effort triggered a civil … Continue reading “Washington’s Long Flirtation with Syria’s Extreme Islamists”

Here is a very strange thing. For years, western media outlets and politicians have been recklessly indifferent to the fact that Hamas is not a jihadist movement, like al-Qaeda or Islamic State, but a specifically *Palestinian* national resistance movement – if one underpinned by an Islamist ideology that distinguishes it from secular Palestinian national movements … Continue reading “The Day the Media Decided Militant Jihadism Was Respectable”

President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly expressed concern that Iran could develop a nuclear bomb on his watch. In considering his options to prevent that, The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump is considering the possibility of airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. Reports that Trump could be open to such an action are not inconsistent with … Continue reading “The Hypocrisy of Bombing Iran”

My first reaction to news earlier this month that the Syrian government had been overthrown was, how much did we have to do with it; how involved was the CIA; and how much is it going to cost. As with Saddam and Gaddafi before him, we know that Assad was no libertarian hero. But unleashing … Continue reading “What Are We Doing in Syria?”

Also, rights groups decried secret executions occurring in Iraq.