Syria has taken a number of steps to win US favor and get relations back on a solid footing. I had dinner with a Western Diplomat in Damascus whose job is to coordinate with Syrian Security. He was nonplussed by America’s inability to fully engage with Syria and to name an Ambassador to Damascus, the [...]

[Landis comment] An article by Khairi Janbek published at the Washington Post Global site (and copied at the bottom of this post) is full of mistakes and old canards. One is that the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood is the only opposition and it favors the regime in order to preserve stability. It doesn't favor the regime and states [...]

Bush's Policy of No Dialogue with Syria is Costing US LivesBy Joshua Landisfor Syria Comment, 29 August 2008
Washington's latest refusal to talk to Syria does not make sense. There is no hope of changing Syria's behavior by the refusal to talk. On the contrary, it is costing the lives of US soldiers.
General Petraeus wanted to travel [...]

I have received many responses to my last post. Many are in the comment section of the post itself. Others, were send to me by email, and I have selected a cross section here. Michael Young responded. I will not respond to it now, believing it wiser to let passions cool. Many of the issues he raises are [...]

Treasury Steps Up Pressure on Syria Thursday January 4, 2007 4:16 PM By JEANNINE AVERSA AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -The Bush administration, intensifying pressure on Damascus, moved Thursday to financially clamp down on three Syrian institutions suspected of helping spread weapons of mass destruction.
The Treasury Department's action means that any bank accounts or financial [...]

Andrew Exum and Nicholas Noe have spent considerable time researching Hizbullah and studying the summer war of 2006. They differ on some important points about its abilities, use of intelligence, etc. I provide Exum's most important conclusions and link to Noe's 6 page critique, published at Mideastwire.com and publish a response by Exum.
Andrew Exum, "Hizballah at War: A [...]

Shi’ites and Shi’ism in Medieval Syria By Stephennie Mulder for "Syria Comment"December 2006
Ibn Jubayr was not pleased.  Traveling through Syria at the turn of the thirteenth century, the Spaniard paused in his narrative to grumble.  “In these lands, the Shi’ites are an astonishing phenomenon.  They are more numerous than the Sunnis, and they have disseminated their doctrines [...]

Mansour al-Atrash, the son of Sultan Pasha al-Atrash and one of the earliest Druze members of the Baath Party died yesterday. It is with great saddness that I received this note from a good friend Talal al-Atrash yesterday, November 14, 2006. My condolences to him and the entire Atrash family, which has served Syria in so many ways. 
Dear [...]