HARDER ANSWERS

BY AMY DAVIDSONSEPTEMBER 23, 2013

KEYWORDS

SYRIA;

 

POLITICS;

 

(PRES.) BARACK OBAMA;

CHEMICAL WEAPONS;

 

RUSSIA;

 

(PRES.) VLADIMIR PUTIN;

 

(PRES.) BASHAR AL-ASSAD

A frequent complaint about President Obama’s Syria policy is that he keeps making matters more complicated. The photographs and the videos that began arriving from Ghouta, outside Damascus, on August 21st seemed clear enough: children crying as they struggled with the effects of some sort of gas; bodies wrapped in shrouds. Obama was ready, on his own authority, to launch air strikes against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, and an attack was expected within days, when the President surprised everyone by announcing that he had decided to seek congressional approval first. Then, last Tuesday night, in an address to the nation, he said that he’d asked Congress to delay the vote while he tried to make a last-minute diplomatic gambit work.

Will Syria deal spur US-Iran diplomacy?

September 16, 2013  6:11AM ET

The US may not strike Syria, but Obama says that doesn't mean US wouldn't hit Iran's nuclear program

Topics:

 

Iran

 

International

 

Barack Obama

President Obama says Iran "shouldn't draw a lesson that we haven't struck" in Syria.

L. to R.: Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti via Reuters; Ron Sachs-Pool/Getty Images

The diplomatic compromise that has, for now, averted U.S. air strikes on Syria could portend a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. That's according to President Barack Obama, who linked the two issues in an interview on Sunday -- and revealed an exchange of letters between himself and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani that prompted some to speculate over a possible meeting between the two men when both address the U.N. General Assembly in New York next week.

Summary

Iran, Syria: Smuggling Weapons to Gain Influence in the West Bank

Analysis

AUGUST 9, 2013 | 1052  Print  Text Size 

Palestinian militants in Saair, West Bank, on Feb. 25. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Summary

There are growing indications that Iran, Syria and their local proxies may be attempting to build up militant capabilities in the West Bank to eventually threaten Israel. Physically transferring weapons into Fatah-controlled West Bank will remain a key challenge, as recent arrests of weapons smugglers in Jordan have shown. Though Iran and Syria face many constraints in trying to spread militancy to the West Bank, their quiet efforts are worth noting, particularly as Hamas and Iran are now finding reasons to repair their relationship after a period of strain.

Analysis

In the past several days, Jordanian authorities have reported two separate incidents in which groups of smugglers traveling from Syria have been caught with weapons and drugs in Jordan. A Jordanian security official speaking anonymously to local media said that five Syrian smugglers were caught the morning of Aug. 6 with anti-tank missiles, surface-to-air missiles and assault rifles in their possession. According to a Stratfor source, the arrests were made near Madaba in central Jordan. The smugglers, carrying Jordanian identity cards, allegedly hid the weapons in two pickup trucks loaded with watermelons, but when the two trucks traveled beyond the main produce market and kept heading south, the Jordanian police became suspicious. Jordan's state-owned Petra news agency said the army had thwarted another attempt to smuggle a large amount of drugs and weapons from Syria into Jordan earlier in the week.