{"id":25943,"date":"2019-01-02T18:18:22","date_gmt":"2019-01-02T23:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?page_id=25943"},"modified":"2020-01-09T13:08:17","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T18:08:17","slug":"landis-news-2017","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Landis in the News 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"news_archive_list\">\n<li>Browse Archive By Year<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/\">Current<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2019\/\">2019<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2018\/\">2018<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"active\" href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2017\/\">2017<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2016\/\">2016<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2015\/\">2015<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2014\/\">2014<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2013\/\">2013<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2012\/\">2012<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2011\/\">2011<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2010\/\">2010<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2009\/\">2009<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2008\/\">2008<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2007\/\">2007<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2006\/\">2006<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2005\/\">2005<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2004\/\">2004<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>TRTWorld<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CABgoJqHov4&amp;index=2&amp;list=PLUW304lJeu3Wq792ZuY62Cq7gWzbygo5F\">Roundtable: Has Bashar al-Assad won the war in Syria?<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Dec 22, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In the beginning it was all about bringing down the president &#8211; but now talk of removing Syria&#8217;s leader Bashar al-Assad appears to have gone quiet. At a cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars, could he be thinking he&#8217;s won?<br \/>\nMore than six years of the Syrian civil war have changed the country &#8211; and the region &#8211; forever. Even if President Assad remains in power, he&#8217;ll be ruling a very different society; a nation divided. In the face of monumental violence and huge international pressure \u2013 what &#8211; or indeed who, has managed to keep him from being toppled? How secure does he now look?<br \/>\nAt the Roundtable was Joshua Landis, a Middle East and Syrian affairs specialist and the Director of the Center of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma; Ibrahim Olabi, the founder and Executive Director of the Syrian Legal Development Programme; and Omar Imady, a senior fellow at the Centre for Syrian Studies at the University of St Andrews.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Real News network<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/therealnews.com\/stories\/putins-syria-victory-wont-end-the-proxy-war-2\">Putin\u2019s Syria \u2018Victory\u2019 Won\u2019t End the Proxy War <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Dec 14, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared victory in Syria and says he\u2019s withdrawing troops, but the proxy fight there remains and could ramp up in neighboring Lebanon, says Syria expert and scholar Joshua Landis<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>TheNewArab<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.alaraby.co.uk\/english\/indepth\/2017\/12\/8\/erdogan-open-to-working-with-assad-against-syrian-kurds\">Erdogan &#8216;open to working with Assad&#8217; against Syrian-Kurds <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Dec 6, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Turkey has largely stopped arming the Syria rebel factions and has moved away from its early position that Assad must go,&#8221; Professor Joshua Landis told The New Arab.<br \/>\n&#8220;Erdogan has brought Turkey into Russia&#8217;s orbit in order to counter the US decision to help Syria&#8217;s Kurds train, arm and finance its YPG forces,&#8221; he added. &#8220;In order to limit the growth of Kurdish power in Syria, Turkey will have to cooperate with Assad and Russia.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>BBC Morning World News Program<br \/>\n<strong>Dec 1, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>BBC News<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-42082615\">Russia in Syria: &#8216;Victory&#8217; in war but can Moscow win the peace?<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Nov 27, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>As Prof Joshua Landis, a Syrian expert at the University of Oklahoma, told me: &#8220;There remain a number of militias that have not given up and continue to win foreign backing, but they are almost uniquely arranged along the border with Turkey.<br \/>\n&#8220;They will continue to give Assad a hard time, until he crushes them or comes to terms with Turkey about their disposition.<br \/>\n&#8220;Otherwise,&#8221; he argues, &#8220;the opposition has been largely dismantled. It is possible that secret cells will try to carry on with strikes on government buildings and explosions in crowded markets, but the Assad government demonstrated considerable skill and ruthlessness in rolling up such terror organisations before the uprising broke out.&#8221;<br \/>\nRussia has achieved this &#8220;victory&#8221; &#8211; if you want to call it that &#8211; by the simple exercise of realpolitik with little concern about what its many critics would call the morality of its actions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>DW<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/syria-putin-erdogan-rouhani-hold-talks-as-opposition-gathers-in-saudi-arabia\/a-41479278\">Syria: Putin, Erdogan, Rouhani hold talks as opposition gathers in Saudi Arabia<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Nov 22, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Joshua Landis, a Syrian expert and head of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, told DW that Putin wanted to send a message that Russia and Iran had largely defeated IS and foreign backed opposition forces.<br \/>\n&#8220;There remains much for them to do in order to consolidate their success, but they are seeking recognition of their position in the hope that world opinion will accept their victory as an ineluctable fact and cease to oppose them by sponsoring opposition members, arming militants and imposing new sanctions,&#8221; he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Milliyet<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.milliyet.com.tr\/yazarlar\/verda-ozer\/esad-denklemde-mi--2559126\/\">Esad denklemde mi?<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Nov 22, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Bu y\u00fczden ge\u00e7en hafta g\u00fcndeme bomba gibi d\u00fc?en DEA?\u2019la YPG\u2019nin yapt??? anla?ma, ?am rejimini k\u00fcplere bindirmi? durumda. Hat?rlarsan?z, YPG\u2019nin y\u00fczlerce DEA?\u2019l?y? Rakka\u2019dan tahliye etti?i ortaya \u00e7?km??t?. Hem de Amerikan jetlerinin g\u00f6zetiminde. ABD\u2019de Suriye\u2019yi en yak?n takip eden isimlerden, Ortado?u Ara?t?rmalar? Merkezi Ba?kan? Joshua Landis\u2019e g\u00f6re: \u201cEsad, bunun PYD\u2019nin Rakka\u2019da sava?mak yerine Suriye\u2019nin do?usundaki petrol kaynaklar?n? ele ge\u00e7irmesi i\u00e7in yap?ld???n? biliyor.\u201d Landis bu nedenle \u00f6n\u00fcm\u00fczdeki d\u00f6nem Washington<br \/>\nile ?am aras?nda tansiyonun<br \/>\nciddi ?ekilde<br \/>\ny\u00fckselmesini bekliyor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Milliyet<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.milliyet.com.tr\/yazarlar\/verda-ozer\/kirli-pazarlik-2556942\/\">Kirli pazarl?k<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Nov 18, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hurriyet<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.hurriyet.com.tr\/dunya\/suudi-arabistan-orta-doguda-silahlanma-yarisini-onde-goturuyor-40646677\">Suudi Arabistan Orta Do?u&#8217;da silahlanma yar???n? &#8216;\u00f6nde g\u00f6t\u00fcr\u00fcyor&#8217;<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Nov 16, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>HUrriyet.com.tr\u2019ye konu?an ABD\u2019li Orta Do?u uzman? Joshua Landis, Oklohoma \u00dcniversitesi Ortado?u \u00c7al??malar? Merkezi Direkt\u00f6r\u00fc Joshua Landis H\u00fcrriyet.com.tr\u2019ye \u201cSuudi Arabistan a\u00e7?k bir ?ekilde daha agresif bir konuma geliyor. Orta Do?u \u00fclkeleri, i\u00e7 muhalefete daha fazla bask? yap?ld??? ve di?er \u00fclkelerdeki isyanc? hareketler tetiklenmeye \u00e7al???ld??? bir d\u00f6nemde, ?ran ve Suudi Arabistan aras?ndaki sava? riskinin artmas?yla askeri g\u00fcc\u00fc art?rmak i\u00e7in tam kapasiteli bir yar??ta. ?ki taraf da daha fazla silah almak i\u00e7in yar???yor. ?srail de L\u00fcbnan ve Suriye\u2019yi tehdit etti. Bat? merkezli silah end\u00fcstrileri ise olduk\u00e7a k\u00e2rl? anla?malar imzalama pe?inde\u2026\u201d yorumunda bulundu.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Aljazeera<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2017\/11\/saudi-iran-proxy-wars-pursuit-regional-hegemony-171113110353492.html\">Saudi-Iran proxy wars: In pursuit of regional hegemony<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Nov 14, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Considering the Saudis&#8217; extended involvement and apparent losses in these conflicts &#8211; seen as attempts to curb Iranian influence &#8211; the decision to engage Iran in Lebanon may not be wise, according to Joshua Landis, head of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma and expert on Syria.<br \/>\nLandis believes the contest for military supremacy is already over.<br \/>\n&#8220;The Iranians have won the war for military strength in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. There can be little doubt about this,&#8221; he told Al Jazeera.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>RT<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/409324-isis-stronghold-falls-syria\/\">Last ISIS stronghold in Syria, Abu Kamal, totally liberated \u2013 Syrian Army <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Nov 9, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Abu Kamal&#8217;s liberation marks the ultimate end of Islamic State&#8217;s territorial ambitions, says Joshua Landis, head of the Middle East Studies Department at the University of Oklahoma.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Stars and Stripes<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.stripes.com\/news\/middle-east\/final-islamic-state-defeat-brings-syria-s-war-to-key-crossroads-1.497040\">Final Islamic State defeat brings Syria&#8217;s war to key crossroads<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Nov 9, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re at the end in the sense that there certainly is not going to be a rebel revolution,&#8221; said Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, who has run an influential Syria commentary forum for much of a war now in its seventh year. &#8220;There&#8217;s a raggedy ending here, with bits and pieces left.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>MINA<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/macedoniaonline.eu\/content\/view\/32773\/61\/\">Syrian army &amp; allies capture last major ISIS held town in Syria <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Nov 9, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The liberation of Abu Kamal marks the ultimate end of the territorial ambitions of Islamic State, Joshua Landis, head of the Middle East Studies Department at the University of Oklahoma, told RT. He added that Islamic State has now lost all the major settlements it controlled while being pinned down by the Syrian and Iraqi armies in the border region between the two countries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe two armies met up and liberated this last major town [held by Islamic State],\u201d Landis, adding that \u201cthis is the end of ISIS as a \u2018state\u2019.\u201d He also pointed out that the terrorists are now being prevented from freely moving between Syrian and Iraqi territory, making the fight against them much easier.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gulan-media.com\/sorani\/details.php?section=2&amp;id=1274\">Gulan-Media<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Nov 8, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>BBC News<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-41849778#\">What will happen in Syria following IS defeats?<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Nov 4, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and professor at Oklahoma University, summed it up in simple terms. &#8220;Assad has won the Syria war militarily,&#8221; he told me. &#8220;He has defeated the original uprising or revolution. The rebel groups that remain have been pushed to the margins of Syria.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Haaretz<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.haaretz.com\/middle-east-news\/syria\/syria-s-assad-risks-new-conflict-by-setting-sights-on-kurdish-areas-1.5461882\">Syria&#8217;s Assad Risks New Conflict by Setting Sights on Kurdish Areas <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Nov 1, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The U.S.-led coalition, which has established several military bases in northern Syria, has been helping the SDF shore up control of the recently captured al-Omar oil field in Deir al-Zor province.<br \/>\n&#8220;Many people will say that will help them with (political) negotiations, but only if the United States remains with them, otherwise they are going to get clobbered,&#8221; said Joshua Landis, an expert on Syria and head of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think the Syrian government is going to push on some of these oil wells, in the same way as Iraq just pushed to get Kirkuk oil, and in the same way the Iraqi push is going to embolden the Syrian army,&#8221; he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Aljazeera<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2017\/10\/syrian-opposition-hopeful-breakthrough-astana-171030124019456.html\">Syrian opposition: We still believe in the revolution<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Oct 31, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Joshua Landis, a professor at Oklahoma University and editor of the Syria Comment blog, told Al Jazeera that although there have been several international initiatives aimed at bringing the war to an end, &#8220;Astana has turned into the real venue for Syria negotiations.<br \/>\nHe added the talks in Afghanistan had eclipsed &#8220;Geneva in importance&#8221;, referring to the separate UN-sponsored negotiations held in the Swiss city.<\/p>\n<p>Landis said Astana has practically replaced &#8220;years of fruitless grandstanding in Geneva&#8221; achieving tangible results on the ground in the form of &#8220;de-escalation zones&#8221;, which brought about some reprieve to the affected population.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>RT<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/uk\/408224-isis-fighters-report-uk\/\">\u2018Treating returning ISIS fighters as prisoners will make them go underground\u2019 <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Oct 30, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>There has to be a reintegration program for returning ISIS fighters because if they are treated as terrorists, the chance of identifying and deprogramming them falls dramatically, says Joshua Landis, Center for Middle East Studies, University of Oklahoma.<br \/>\nWhile ISIS continues to lose ground in Syria and Iraq, fears are growing in countries like the UK, that hundreds of its fighters may be heading home. A new report estimates more than 400 British Jihadis could already be back in Britain.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Digital Journal<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.digitaljournal.com\/news\/world\/assad-regime-wins-ground-but-political-fights-ahead\/article\/506382\">Assad regime wins ground, but political fights ahead<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Oct 30, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Joshua Landis, a professor at the University of Oklahoma, predicted Damascus could also see ties improve with its neighbours.<br \/>\n&#8220;They need refugees to go home and trade to return,&#8221; he said.<br \/>\nDuring the conflict, Damascus has leaned heavily on allies Russia and Iran, which are likely to retain powerful influence over the regime, including during the potentially lucrative reconstruction process.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Aljazeera<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/global.factiva.com\/ha\/default.aspx#.\/!?&amp;_suid=153850333176509916623973956065\">Could battle for Raqqa bring the end of ISIL in Syria? <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Oct 15, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>So, will the battle for Raqqa mean the end of ISIL in Syria? Presenter: Sami Zeidan Guests: Sami Nader &#8211; director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs Sonia Khush &#8211; Syria director for Save The Children Joshua Landis &#8211; director of the Centre for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma Al Jazeera News<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>AP<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/global.factiva.com\/ha\/default.aspx#.\/!?&amp;_suid=153850333176509916623973956065\">It&#8217;s not independence, but Syria&#8217;s Kurds entrench self-rule <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Oct 9, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The United States can limit Iran&#8217;s freedom of action in the region by becoming a major patron for the Kurds,&#8221; while trying to be &#8220;polite with Turkey,&#8221; Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and professor at the University of Oklahoma, said recently to Syria Direct.<br \/>\nSyria&#8217;s PYD is ideologically affiliated with the Turkish Kurdish PKK, inspired by its leader Abdullah Ocalan<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>.<br \/>\nAljazeera Inside Story<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/programmes\/insidestory\/2017\/10\/turkey-plans-syria-171008200656475.html\">What are Turkey&#8217;s plans for Syria?<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Oct 8, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Turkey is launching a major military campaign in Syria&#8217;s northwestern province of Idlib, just across its border.<br \/>\nIt is backing the Free Syrian Army, which moved into the area on Saturday in a fight against the group that controls much of the area &#8211; Hay&#8217;et Tahrir al-Sham, an alliance of factions spearheaded by a former al-Qaeda affiliate.<br \/>\nTurkey wants to ensure security in the region where some of the most violent conflicts of the Syrian civil war have taken place.<br \/>\nDuring the talks in Kazakhstan&#8217;s capital, Astana, in May, Russia, Turkey, and Iran signed a deal to establish de-escalation zones in Syria, which included Idlib.<br \/>\nAnkara says it is not sending its forces in just yet, but providing logistical and intelligence support.<br \/>\nBut could this be the beginning of more direct involvement in the war? And what will be the cost?<br \/>\nPresenter: Elizabeth Puranam<br \/>\nGuests:<br \/>\nMetin Gurcan &#8211; columnist for Al-Monitor&#8217;s Turkey Pulse.<br \/>\nPavel Felgenhauer &#8211; defence analyst and columnist with Novaya Gazeta.<br \/>\nJoshua Landis &#8211; professor at the department of International and Area Studies at the University of Oklahoma.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Breitbart<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2017\/10\/06\/6-oct-17-world-view-syria-war-resumes-in-full-as-de-escalation-agreements-unravel\/\">World View: Syria\u2019s War Resumes in Full as \u2018De-Escalation\u2019 Agreements Unravel<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Oct 6, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Joshua Landis, from the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at University of Oklahoma, is an expert on Syria. He was interviewed on the BBC on Thursday, where he gave a chilling analysis of what\u2019s to come. Landis was asked why there\u2019s been a spike in violence in Syria (my transcription):<br \/>\nIn the south of Syria, near the Jordanian border, it has largely been controlled. But in the north of Syria, there is intense fighting around Deir az-Zour, major provincial capital, held by ISIS, both pro-US Kurdish forces and the Syrian army are trying to take that city, and trying to take the Euphrates, all the way down to the Iraqi border. And there\u2019s a scramble to destroy ISIS as quickly as they can, and to grab as much territory. This territory has lots of oil wells in it. It\u2019s very important for the future of both the Kurds and Syria. So this is causing a spike in the amount of deaths , because they\u2019re trying to go as quickly as they can, they\u2019re not being very discriminatory.<br \/>\nThen in the west of Syria, the northwest, near the Turkish border, there\u2019s been a lot of fighting and a lot of bombing, by the Syrian air force and the Russian air force, of rebels, largely extremist Muslim rebels. and so this doesn\u2019t entirely put paid to the de-escalation zones, but on the other hand it shows how delicate they are, and that the war is far from over.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Rudaw<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rudaw.net\/english\/analysis\/05102017\">Russia and Rojava autonomy<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Oct 5, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A war between Damascus and the SDF is in the interests of neither Damascus or Moscow, argues Professor Joshua Landis, a Syrian expert and head of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Syria goes to war against the Kurds who have US backing, it could be ruinous to the government,\u201d Landis told Rudaw English.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government&#8217;s situation is already facing many challenges,\u201d he added. \u201cRussia has been trying to encourage Damascus to talk to the Kurdish authorities about autonomy for over a year without any success. Russia looks on the Kurds as allies and hopes to head off a war between the two.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>BirGUn<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.birgun.net\/haber-detay\/abd-ortadogu-da-hasar-kontrolu-yapiyor-182386.html\">\u2018ABD Ortado?u\u2019da hasar kontrol\u00fc yap?yor\u2019<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Oct 3, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Oklahoma \u00dcniversitesi Uluslararas? ve Alan \u00c7al??malar? b\u00f6l\u00fcm\u00fcnden Joshua Landis, Filistin\u2019de yay?n yapan Al Quds gazetesi Washington B\u00fcro ?efi Said Arikat ve Erbil merkezli R\u00fbdaw\u2019?n Washington B\u00fcro ?efi Namo Abdulla b\u00f6lgedeki krizin ABD\u2019deki yans?malar?n? farkl? a\u00e7?lardan aktard?.<\/p>\n<p>Joshua Landis, Irak\u2019a ili?kin \u2018resmi\u2019 Amerikan politikas?n? ?\u00f6yle \u00e7er\u00e7eveliyor: \u201cBa?dat\u2019ta se\u00e7ene?imiz yok. Abadi\u2019yi g\u00fc\u00e7l\u00fc tutmam?z laz?m, T\u00fcrkiye\u2019yle ili?kimizi yok etmek istemiyoruz. Ortado?u\u2019da daha fazla de?il daha az radikal de?i?iklik istiyoruz. Bu nedenle herkes kibar davranmal?.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>SYRIA:direct<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/syriadirect.org\/news\/why-is-an-islamic-state-affiliate-quietly-ruling-unchallenged-in-a-corner-of-syria\u2019s-south\/\">Why is an Islamic State affiliate quietly ruling unchallenged in a corner of Syria\u2019s south?<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Sep 28, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe Syrian government is insistent they\u2019re going to take back every inch of Syria,\u201d says Joshua Landis, head of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, and founder of the influential blog Syria Comment.<br \/>\n\u201c[This is] probably true for the south, along the Jordan border, and it is only a matter of time before Syria takes back those regions and destroys whatever Arab militias are remaining in that area.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>SYRIA:direct<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/syriadirect.org\/news\/joshua-landis-syria-on-track-\u2018to-go-back-to-what-we-had-before\u2019\/\">Joshua Landis: Syria on track \u2018to go back to what we had before\u2019<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Sep 28, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The vision of a whole, functioning Syria is a distant one, says Joshua Landis, director of the University of Oklahoma\u2019s Center for Middle East Studies. \u201cIt\u2019ll take years, many years.\u201d<br \/>\nFor now, a decentralized, ad hoc system of local warlords is holding some parts of Syria together. That system is not sustainable. \u201cThe warlords get to steal from the people in the form of taxation, but of course it\u2019s not systematic taxation,\u201d Landis tells Syria Direct\u2019s Avery Edelman from Arezzo, Italy, where he is the Faculty-in-Residence at the University of Oklahoma\u2019s Italian Study Center.<br \/>\nIf the war is in fact winding down, Syrians will want to rebuild, and they will look to the state to do it. \u201cPeople will want greater benefits from the central state, they\u2019ll want all kinds of services, whether it\u2019s schools, water, street cleaning, you name it,\u201d says Landis<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>TheNewArab<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.alaraby.co.uk\/english\/news\/2017\/9\/25\/us-backed-syria-militia-hit-by-russian-bombing\">US-backed Syria militia &#8216;hit by Russian bombing&#8217;<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Sep 25, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Professor Joshua Landis, of the University of Oklahoma, said both groups were heading for oil-rich territories. &#8220;Both the Syrian army and the SDF are making a play for the Euphrates Valley, where a great deal of Syria&#8217;s oil is situated,&#8221; he told The New Arab.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Most wells are just north of the Euphrates. It now seems that the SDF, with US backing, wants that oil.&#8221;Control over this oil gives the SDF a source of revenue for its semi-autonomous &#8211; and unrecognised &#8211; federal democratic polity in the Syrian Kurdish territories, and other territories they&#8217;ve captured from IS where they have established military councils, such as Manbij.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Eurasiareview<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eurasiareview.com\/25092017-iraqi-minorities-face-dilemma-in-kurdish-independence-analysis\/\">Iraqi Minorities Face Dilemma In Kurdish Independence \u2013 Analysis<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Sep 25, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>After gaining control of much of Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State jihadist movement (IS) and other Sunni extremists committed grave atrocities and international human rights violations against non-Sunni minorities, including perhaps the most extreme crime of all, the genocide that was perpetrated against Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims. As IS is gradually defeated on the battlefield, another fear looms ahead for these persecuted groups.<br \/>\nThis article was published at Syria Comment<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ahram.org.eg\/NewsQ\/613119.aspx\">Ahram.org<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Sep 13, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>L&#8217;Orient Le Jour<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lorientlejour.com\/article\/1072318\/axe-iranien-vs-israel-en-syrie-des-paroles-sans-les-actes.html\">Axe iranien vs Isra\u00ebl en Syrie : des paroles&#8230; sans les actes<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Sep 13, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Le num\u00e9ro 2 du Hezbollah, le cheikh Na\u00efm Qassem, n&#8217;est pas entr\u00e9 dans la surench\u00e8re dimanche soir lors d&#8217;une interview t\u00e9l\u00e9vis\u00e9e, d\u00e9clarant que l&#8217;attaque isra\u00e9lienne sur un d\u00e9p\u00f4t d&#8217;armes du r\u00e9gime n&#8217;\u00e9tait pas une raison de d\u00e9clencher une guerre contre Isra\u00ebl, et qu&#8217;il y avait d&#8217;autres moyens de r\u00e9pondre \u00e0 cette attaque. Il a notamment pr\u00e9cis\u00e9 que la d\u00e9cision d&#8217;intervenir \u00e9tait entre les mains du r\u00e9gime et pas entre celles du Hezbollah. Si Damas a, imm\u00e9diatement apr\u00e8s l&#8217;attaque, accus\u00e9 Isra\u00ebl d&#8217;en \u00eatre l&#8217;auteur, il s&#8217;est toutefois retenu, cette fois-ci, de le menacer s\u00e9rieusement de repr\u00e9sailles. C&#8217;est d&#8217;ailleurs, l\u00e0 aussi, une constante depuis le d\u00e9sengagement sur le Golan, en 1974. \u00ab Damas n&#8217;a jamais ripost\u00e9 pour toutes les attaques pr\u00e9c\u00e9dentes perp\u00e9tr\u00e9es par Isra\u00ebl, pourquoi le ferait-il aujourd&#8217;hui ? \u00bb rappelle Joshua Landis, directeur du Centre d&#8217;\u00e9tudes sur le Moyen-Orient \u00e0 l&#8217;Universit\u00e9 d&#8217;Oklahoma. \u00ab Depuis la guerre de 73, les Syriens ont toujours adopt\u00e9 grosso modo la m\u00eame attitude qui consiste \u00e0 riposter verbalement, \u00e0 dire qu&#8217;ils se r\u00e9servaient le choix de la date et de l&#8217;heure de la riposte \u00bb, rappelle de son c\u00f4t\u00e9 Karim \u00c9mile Bitar, directeur de recherche \u00e0 l&#8217;IRIS et sp\u00e9cialiste du Moyen-Orient. Le r\u00e9gime et ses alli\u00e9s ne semblent en effet pas pr\u00eats \u00e0 entrer en confrontation directe avec l&#8217;arm\u00e9e isra\u00e9lienne. \u00ab S&#8217;ils ne ripostaient pas dans les ann\u00e9es o\u00f9 ils \u00e9taient en position de force, ce n&#8217;est pas aujourd&#8217;hui, o\u00f9 ils sont v\u00e9ritablement affaiblis et d\u00e9pendants de leurs alli\u00e9s iranien et russe, qu&#8217;ils vont le faire \u00bb, poursuit M. Bitar.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Rudaw<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rudaw.net\/english\/analysis\/07092017\">Concurrent Syrian Army and SDF offensives could destroy ISIS in Syria <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Sep 7, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe SAA has broken through to its enclave, but the real fighting for the ISIS controlled part of the city of Deir has yet to begin,\u201d Professor Joshua Landis, a Syrian expert and head of Middle East Studies at Oklahoma University, told Rudaw English.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe SAA&#8217;s achievement is important,\u201d Landis went on to clarify. \u201cIt means that the enclave that has been besieged for almost three years is now relieved. It is also a major sign that ISIS is on the way out and that the Syrian government under President Assad will conquer the remaining Euphrates Valley.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Rudaw<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rudaw.net\/english\/analysis\/04092017\">No force yet poses major threat to ISIS in Deir ez-Zor: analyst <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Sep 4, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>With ISIS essentially forced from its major strongholds in Iraq and losing its primary stronghold of Raqqa in Syria, the remnants of the group may well make its last stand in eastern Syria&#8217;s Deir ez-Zor region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don&#8217;t believe ISIS will be able to hold out for another year,\u201d Professor Joshua Landis, a frequently cited expert on Syria and the head of Middle East Studies at Oklahoma University, told Rudaw English. \u201cHowever it is possible that ISIS leaders may be eyeing Deir ez-Zor as their last major redoubt.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>ABC Radio National<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/radionational\/programs\/sundayextra\/2017-08-27\/8843138\">A US-Iran alliance?<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Aug 27, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The fight to liberate Sunni regions of Iraq held by Islamic State have brought together the US-backed Iraqi army and Iranian-backed Shia militias, solidifying a de-facto &#8216;alliance&#8217; between the long-hostile nations.<br \/>\nAcross the border in Syria, it is a very different picture, US special forces and their moderate rebel allies have clashed with Iran-backed militias.<br \/>\nHow does the US navigate these competing priorities and what happens to the &#8216;alliance&#8217; when the enemy is defeated?<br \/>\nGUESTS: Professor Joshua Landis, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies and Professor at the University of Oklahoma\u2019s College of International Studies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Who.What.Why.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/whowhatwhy.org\/2017\/08\/21\/turkey-test-trump-new-syria-attack\/\">Is Turkey about to Test Trump with New Syria Attack?<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Aug 21, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cEverybody is testing Trump, everybody is trying to figure out what his real policy is because nobody believes anything he says,\u201d Joshua Landis, a prominent Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma, told WhoWhatWhy. The US president is caught between contradictory goals and promises at home and abroad, Landis and others added, and rival powers are positioning to take advantage of this in order to gain leverage against him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>TheNewArab<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.alaraby.co.uk\/english\/indepth\/2017\/7\/27\/aleppo-to-mosul-the-destruction-of-iraq-and-syria\">Aleppo to Mosul: The destruction of cities in Iraq and Syria<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>July 27, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The destruction of the Sunni cities of Iraq and Syria underlines the terrible price imposed on the Sunni revolt,&#8221; said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and head of the Middle East Studies department in the University of Oklahoma.<\/p>\n<p>In both Iraq and Syria, disenfranchised Sunnis protested against their respective countries.<\/p>\n<p>In Syria, where the Sunnis are in the majority, it sparked the regime&#8217;s infamous crackdown in 2011, resulting in the ongoing war. In Iraq, a general protest movement among Sunnis in 2013 gathered momentum only to be forcibly suppressed by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki&#8217;s security forces.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>FAIR<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/fair.org\/home\/media-end-cia-training-syrian-rebels-al-qaeda\/\">Media Mourn End of CIA Killing Syrians and Strengthening Al Qaeda<\/a><br \/>\nJul 27, 2017<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Scholars like Joshua Landis, a leading academic expert on Syria with moderate, middle-of-the-road politics, also welcomed the end to the CIA program, which he uncontroversially noted \u201cbenefited spread of radicals like Al Qaeda and ISIS.\u201d<br \/>\nLandis pointed to a largely forgotten 2012 New York Times report (10\/14\/12) that revealed that \u201cmost of the arms shipped\u201d to Syrian rebels by US allies were \u201cgoing to hard-line Islamic jihadists.\u201d \u201cWashington knew this by mid-2012. Took five more years to shut down flow,\u201d commented Landis, who directs the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Tribune<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.tribuneindia.com\/news\/comment\/us-afghanistan-strategy\/441020.html\">US\u2019 Afghanistan strategy<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jul 24, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Trump\u2019s decision was first reported last week by The Washington Post, but it is more than a month old and kept confidential presumably because of its sensitivity. Indeed, the decision signifies a parting of ways between the US and its regional allies, especially Israel and Saudi Arabia. More importantly, it \u201csignals the death knell for Western efforts to roll back Iranian and Russian power in the Levant,\u201d to quote Prof Joshua Landis who heads the Centre for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma and is one of America\u2019s highly regarded authorities on the Syrian question.<br \/>\nAs Landis put it, \u201cThe cut-off of CIA funding for Syria\u2019s rebels is the raggedy ending of America\u2019s failed regime change policy in Syria and the region at large\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>LI<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/legalinsurrection.com\/2017\/07\/nato-ally-turkey-strains-ties-with-the-u-s-germany-and-the-uk\/\">NATO Ally Turkey Strains Ties With The U. S., Germany, and the UK<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jul 23, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Erdogan has declared many times that he views the US arming of the YPG a hostile act by the United States. This is one more indication that he opposes US policy,&#8221; Joshua Landis, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, told The Globe Post.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Antiwar.com<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/original.antiwar.com\/justin\/2017\/07\/20\/trump-ends-syrian-regime-change-campaign\/\">Trump Ends Syrian Regime Change Campaign<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>July 21, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The headline in the Washington Post said it all: \u201cTrump ends covert CIA program to arm anti-Assad rebels in Syria, a move sought by Moscow.\u201d The madness that has infected what passes for journalism today could not be more starkly dramatized: everything is seen through the distorting lens of Russophobia. It doesn\u2019t matter that that the program had failed to achieve its ostensible goal, and that the US-vetted rebels had for the most part defected to al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, and ISIS. Atrocities committed by the \u201cmoderate\u201d rebels go unmentioned. That real experts on the region like Joshua Landis hailed the move as a step toward a peaceful settlement is ignored. The only thing that matters is that, as one unnamed \u201ccurrent official\u201d cited in the article puts it, \u201cPutin won in Syria.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Voice of America<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.voanews.com\/a\/syria-rebels-halt-to-cia-arms-supply\/3952232.html\">Syrian Rebels Say Jihadists Likely Beneficiaries of US Halt to Arms Supply<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>July 20, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, agrees the move may well mark the end of the rebellion. \u201cThe cutoff of CIA funding for Syria&#8217;s rebels is the raggedy ending of America&#8217;s failed regime-change policy in Syria and the region at large,\u201d he told VOA.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Guardian<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2017\/jul\/19\/donald-trump-drops-syria-programme-in-bid-to-improve-russia-ties\">Donald Trump drops CIA programme in Syria &#8216;in bid to improve Russia ties&#8217; <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jul 19, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a victory for Assad, Iran and Putin, all of which carried the day. But it\u2019s also a victory for America: in this case I do believe Trump is pursuing the correct policy.<br \/>\n\u201cTrying to destroy Russia in Syria is a fool\u2019s errand because Russia is helping to pursue al-Qaida and Isis there. Since when is destroying extremism a bad thing? Just because Russia is for it doesn\u2019t automatically make it bad.\u201d<br \/>\nLandis said that it had become clear that the rebels will not win, the US has no leverage over Assad \u2013 and a large percentage of the arms are falling into the hands of extremists.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Albawaba News<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.albawaba.com\/news\/analysis-what-does-future-hold-syria\u2019s-kurds-996126\">Analysis: What Does the Future Hold For Syria\u2019s Kurds?<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>July 12, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The question many analysts assessing Rojava&#8217;s prospects for meaningful autonomy invariably come to is the ability of the Syrian Kurds to defend and consolidate their territory.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;An autonomous Rojava seems quite probable if the US continues to arm and back its Kurdish allies in Syria,&#8221; said Professor Joshua Landis, the head of Middle East Studies at Oklahoma University.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Much depends on the United States,&#8221; he told The New Arab. &#8220;The Syrian Kurds are plucky fighters who have made the most of their situation and won the hearts and minds of the West. All the same, they do not have an air force and are surrounded by powerful enemies. Should America&#8217;s support falter, the military balance of power would reverse itself quickly.&#8221;<br \/>\nLandis points out that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan &#8220;has stated many times that he will not allow an autonomous Kurdish state to emerge along its southern border&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Assad has also told the Kurds of Syria to &#8216;forget&#8217; about autonomy, not to mention independence,&#8221; Landis concluded.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Radio Free Europe<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rferl.org\/a\/interview-aura-dented-by-lost-foothold-islamic-state-still-threat\/28606344.html\">Interview: Its &#8216;Aura&#8217; Dented By Lost Foothold, Islamic State Still Poses Threat <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>July 10, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In an interview with RFE\/RL, Joshua Landis, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Oklahoma and author of the widely read blog Syria Comment, talks about how the loss of Raqqa and Mosul might transform IS. But Landis says it would be folly to assume this is the end of the militant group.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Business Mirror<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/businessmirror.com.ph\/putins-endgame-in-syria-gains-traction-after-deal-with-trump\/\">Putin\u2019s endgame in Syria gains traction after deal with Trump<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jul 9, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>They also show how the situation on the ground has transformed over the last year. Syria\u2019s second city, Aleppo, fell back under regime control and the US-led campaign to drive Islamic State (IS) from its self-declared caliphate advanced dramatically.<br \/>\nThat has left the US with a decision to make on what to do once IS is defeated. It can wrestle with Iran, Russia and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for control of recaptured areas of Syria. Or it can declare mission accomplished, agree to oversee the security of zones near the borders with its core allies, Israel and Jordan, and leave most of Syria to Assad, said Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Vox<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/world\/2017\/7\/3\/15916166\/assad-syrian-currency-civil-war-russia-iran-money-2000-bashar\">With a new banknote, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad tells everyone he\u2019s here to stay<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jul 3, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Syria released a new banknote featuring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad\u2019s portrait over the weekend, and there are already several theories as to what this might mean for the ongoing civil war between Assad\u2019s government and domestic opposition forces.<br \/>\nSome experts, such as Joshua Landis, a Syria scholar from the University of Oklahoma, believe the introduction of Assad\u2019s face on Syrian currency for the first time in his 17-year rule is a not-so-subtle assertion of his strength over the country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>EL PAIS<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/elpais.com\/internacional\/2017\/06\/30\/actualidad\/1498852177_691243.html\">La derrota del ISIS desata una carrera por sus feudos<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jul 1, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>La ca\u00edda del califato sun\u00ed fundado hace ahora tres a\u00f1os a caballo entre Irak y Siria se aproxima. Eso no significa que el ISIS vaya a desaparecer de la noche a la ma\u00f1ana, pero dif\u00edcilmente esas siglas servir\u00e1n ya para denominar a un Estado Isl\u00e1mico sin territorio ni s\u00fabditos.<br \/>\n\u201cMosul ha sido mucho m\u00e1s importante que Raqa para el ISIS, lo que explica que haya convertido su defensa [desde octubre de 2016] en la batalla central\u201d, destaca el profesor estadounidense Joshua Landis, analista experto en Oriente Pr\u00f3ximo. \u201cEs improbable que el asedio de Raqa dure tanto tiempo. El Estado Isl\u00e1mico est\u00e1 agotado y ha perdido a sus mejores combatientes en el frente de Mosul\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The New Yorker<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/news\/news-desk\/trump-doubles-down-in-syrias-intensifying-proxy-war\">Trump Doubles Down in Syria\u2019s Intensifying Proxy War<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jun 28, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWe\u2019re lost,\u201d Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma, told me. \u201cWe don\u2019t know what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<br \/>\nFor six years, the Obama Administration deliberately limited U.S. intervention in the multiple conflicts playing out on Syrian battlefields. It stayed on the sidelines of the bigger civil war between dissident militias and the Assad regime, providing small-scale arms and training to the few pro-Western rebels\u2014an initiative that has since atrophied. U.S. intervention expanded with the rise of ISIS, in 2014, but again with a limited mandate: defeating the extremist movement. Thousands of air strikes and the hundreds of Special Forces soldiers on the ground avoided engagement with the forces of Assad or those of his allies, namely Russia and Iran.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Stars and Stripes<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.stripes.com\/news\/as-russia-launches-missiles-into-syria-us-faces-strategic-dilemma-1.474981\">As Russia launches missiles into Syria, US faces strategic dilemma<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jun 23, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe U.S. must decide how much of east Syria it wants to protect for its proxies,\u201d said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma. \u201cThe U.S. will be stuck defending its new territory for some time because the Kurds do not have an air force and cannot hope to defend their burgeoning state against the Syrian government and its allies without American muscle.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>QUARTZ<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/1009868\/whats-really-going-on-in-americas-confrontation-with-russia-in-syria\/\">What\u2019s really going on in America\u2019s confrontation with Russia in Syria<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jun 20, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>While this is a ratcheting up of US-Russia tensions over Syria, this is not likely to turn into a war, says Joshua Landis, head of the Middle Eastern Studies Center at the University of Oklahoma.<br \/>\nKey to the dispute is the fact that ISIL has seen its Syrian territory shrink from around 40% to 50% of the country to roughly 20% in recent months, Landis says. This is really a \u201cnegotiation,\u201d he says, over which of the superpowers\u2019 allies\u2014for Russia, the government of Bashar al-Assad; for the US, the Syrian Kurds\u2014will take crucial territory that ISIL is going to leave behind as its forces retreat from its would-be caliphate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Independent<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/americas\/us-politics\/syria-war-us-russia-tensions-iran-drones-jet-miss-assad-putin-trump-latest-a7799576.html\">Syria war: Tensions between America and Russia escalate as countries clash over drones and airspace<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jun 20, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The most recent war of words began when a US Navy fighter jet shot down a Syrian war plane without communicating with Russian forces about it ahead of time per normal procedure.<\/p>\n<p>Russia, which has been an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, responded by saying that any US war planes in the vicinity of the incident would be treated as \u201ctargets\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Russia to treat US jets in Syria as &#8216;targets&#8217;<br \/>\nAs Joshua Landis, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, told The Independent the Syrian war plane was likely done bombing and the US &#8220;had to make a snap decision&#8221;.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Buzzfeed News<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeednews.com\/article\/johnhudson\/the-uss-anti-isis-coalition-has-had-a-rough-couple-of-weeks\">Infighting Is Plaguing The Anti-ISIS Coalition<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jun 5, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The United States steadfastly resists taking sides in the disputes among its partners, but has been compelled to smooth things over for the sake of the anti-ISIS coalition.<br \/>\n\u201cBoth the deteriorating relations between Turkey and Germany and the internecine fighting among our allies in the Gulf make the fight against [ISIS] increasingly difficult,\u201d Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at Oklahoma University, said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>RT CrossTalk<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/shows\/crosstalk\/389524-manchester-terrorism-middle-east\/\">Now, Manchester<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>May 24, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Discussion on Manchester that include Joshua Landis, Director of Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>QUARTZ<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/qz.com\/959806\/the-enigmatic-story-of-how-syrias-bashar-al-assad-turned-from-a-painfully-shy-eye-doctor-into-a-murderous-tyrant\/\">The enigma of Assad: How a painfully shy eye doctor turned into a murderous tyran<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Apr 21, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The inauguration was followed by a period of relative openness, known as the \u201cDamascus Spring.\u201d Some opposition parties were allowed, the press got a little bit freer, and hundreds of political prisoners were released. Liberal intellectuals founded discussion salons across the Syrian capital and put together political pamphlets and petitions for reform.<br \/>\nHis inauguration was followed by a period of relative openness. It didnt last long.<br \/>\nBut this openness didn\u2019t last long. \u201cOf course, it didn\u2019t take more than a few weeks before people were demanding regime change because the regime was so corrupt,\u201d says Joshua Landis, director of the University of Oklahoma\u2019s Middle East Studies Center and author of the Syria Comment blog. \u201cIt stunk. The whole thing stunk\u2014so, any kind of critique had to lead to regime change.\u201d Within months, Assad was warning (pdf, p. 5) that civil society groups criticizing the government were, consciously or unconsciously, helping \u201cthe country\u2019s enemies\u201d and, ominously, would be \u201cdealt with.\u201d A few months later, 10 opposition leaders were imprisoned.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Intercept<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2017\/04\/17\/trumps-abrupt-regime-change-pivot-raises-concerns-about-a-mad-max-syria-should-assad-fall\/\">Trump\u2019s Abrupt Regime-Change Pivot Raises Concerns About a \u201cMad Max Syria\u201d Should Assad Fall<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Apr 17, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cOnce the policy people look at what the day after would be \u2014 they don\u2019t see any options,\u201d said Josh Landis, the director of the Center For Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. \u201cThe two strongest militias in Syria are Al Qaeda and ISIS, which would undoubtedly profit and would move into Damascus, were the Assad regime to be destroyed.\u201d<br \/>\nLandis said that any gains made by rebel groups would inevitably lead to sectarian violence against minorities, and would have dire humanitarian consequences for the 15 million people who currently live in Assad-controlled territory.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>AP<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/abff99d4d70644a3954a74b90d78339e\">Syria\u2019s divisions crystallize with latest evacuations<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Apr 14, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Playing on fears of al-Qaida rule, Assad\u2019s government showed leniency to the country\u2019s Christian, Shiite and Alawite minorities while bringing the weight of its military against majority Sunni areas \u2014 especially Sunni pockets in demographically mixed areas, such as along the Lebanese border, where Madaya and Zabadani lie, and along the Mediterranean coast.<br \/>\n\u201cThey of course wanted to beat the Sunni rebels into submission,\u201d said Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. \u201cThis has had the effect of driving them out.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>ABC Radio National<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/radionational\/programs\/betweenthelines\/syria\/8439078\">Syria<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Apr 13, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>What does last week&#8217;s US missile strike on a Syrian airbase mean for US policy in Syria?<br \/>\nIt was in response to the Assad regimes alleged chemical weapons attack that killed 80 civilians but even so the Syrian civil war has claimed 400,000 people with millions more displaced which has created a tidal wave of refugees across the Middle East and Europe.<br \/>\nJoshua Landis is one of the world&#8217;s leading experts in Syria and he explains what happened and what might happen next.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Time<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/4735438\/america-syria-war-coup-history\/\">The U.S. Intervened in Syria in 1949. Here&#8217;s What Happened<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Apr 13, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Part of the U.S. interest in Syria involved setting up a training mission to reshape the fledgling Syrian army and provide it with arms. Quwatli was eager to see this idea through, as the core of the military had been put together by the French and had previously shown themselves to be willing to fight against the nationalists. Many drawn to military service were also part of the Alawite minority, which was generally worse off socioeconomically than the land-owning merchant class of Sunni urban notables who dominated politics. \u201cQuwatli thought the training mission would be the perfect pretext to purge the military of many of the officers recruited from the \u2018minority communities\u2019 by the French, officers whose loyalty he distrusted,\u201d says Joshua Landis, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. \u201cHe hoped to use the American training mission as cover for this purge and to build up the morale and loyalty of the officer corps more generally.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Udland-PDF<br \/>\n<a href=\"file:\/\/\/C:\/Users\/Marjan\/AppData\/Local\/Packages\/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe\/TempState\/Downloads\/Verden%20kalder.pdf\">Verden kalder<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Apr 12, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>En \u00f8get amerikansk indsats vil dog medf\u00f8re betydelige risici, selv hvis der kun er tale om n\u00e5lestiksoperationer. Nicholas Heras p\u00e5peger, at USA-st\u00f8ttede styrker \u2013 navnlig de s\u00e5kaldte Syrian Democratic Forces \u2013 i h\u00f8j grad har kunnet operere i det \u00f8stlige Syrien, fordi Rusland lader dem g\u00f8re det: Deres kamp mod Islamisk Stat tjener ogs\u00e5 Moskvas interesser og g\u00f8r det muligt for Assad at koncentrere sine tropper i landets vestlige del. Men hvis USA for alvor bliver en sten i skoen, kan russerne og regimet v\u00e6lge at g\u00e5 efter Washingtons allierede og sp\u00e6nde ben for indsatsen mod IS, som er Trumps hovedprioritet: \u00bbFordi USAs strategi er s\u00e5 afh\u00e6ngig af samarbejde med lokale partnere \u2013 for at holde antallet af amerikanske tropper nede, s\u00e5 vi ikke beh\u00f8ver en bes\u00e6ttelsesstyrke med titusindvis af soldater \u2013 vil Rusland og Assad kunne l\u00e6gge et ekstremt pres p\u00e5 USAs kampagne mod Islamisk Stat, eller endda langsomt f\u00e5 den til at g\u00e5 i st\u00e5, ved at angribe disse lokale partnere,\u00ab siger Heras. Tilbage st\u00e5r ogs\u00e5 sp\u00f8rgsm\u00e5let om, hvad det er for et Syrien, USA vil arbejde hen imod. \u00bbVi har ikke nogen id\u00e9 om, hvad Trump \u00f8nsker efter afslutningen p\u00e5 denne konflikt,\u00ab konstaterer Joshua Landis.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Inquirer Philly.com<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.philly.com\/philly\/columnists\/trudy_rubin\/20170409_Trump_did_the_right_thing_in_striking_Syria.html?arc404=true\">Worldview: Trump did the right thing in striking Syria <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Apr 9, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The repeated Russian denials that Assad was responsible continue the pattern of lies about their actions from the invasion of Ukraine to the hack of the U.S. election. The United States has clear evidence that the attack was launched from Shayrat &#8211; U.S. radar spotted the Syrian aircraft that dropped the gas bombs. This is why the American strike has broad backing from U.S. allies around the world.<br \/>\nSo Trump had to make clear to the Kremlin that the United States would not tolerate this brazen breach of the 2013 pact. &#8220;Trump has to read the Russians the riot act,&#8221; says Josh Landis, a noted Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma. &#8220;He has to get the Russians involved, to ask them what the hell happened.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>LA STAMPA<br \/>\nLA Guerra IN SIRIA-PDF<br \/>\n<strong>Apr 8, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>L\u2019INTERVISTA Il Raiss potrebbe aver usato le armi chimiche perch\u00e9 vuole vincere il conflitto, perch\u00e9 il suo esercito \u00e8 esausto e al posto dei soldati uccisi sono costretti ad arruolare i ragazzini Vuole finire in fretta<br \/>\nJoshua Landis Direttore del Centro per gli studi sul Medio Oriente<br \/>\nLandis: \u201cA Trump interessa l\u2019Isis non battere Assad\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Guardian<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2017\/apr\/07\/syria-nerve-agent-attack-why-it-made-sense-to-assad?CMP=share_btn_tw\">Syria nerve agent attack: why it made sense to Assad <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Apr 7, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Joshua Landis, a long-time Syria observer and director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said chemical weapons could be attractive to a leader running low on military alternatives.<br \/>\nAdvertisement<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think Assad and his generals want to win and have a depleted and exhausted army,\u201d Joshua Landis said, when asked on Twitter if he thought the Syrian leader would have used chemical weapons.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>PRI<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pri.org\/programs\/pris-world\/suspected-chemical-attack-syria-grandpas-nuclear-secrets-calais-edge-again\">A suspected chemical attack in Syria, grandpa&#8217;s nuclear secrets, Calais on edge again<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Apr 4, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>A suspected poison gas attack in Syria leaves dozens dead. Also, a personal journey through the once-secret nuclear research facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Plus, the music of Venezuela&#8217;s La Vida Boheme<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>ShadowProof<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/shadowproof.com\/2017\/04\/03\/around-empire-episode-12-battle-raqqa-future-syria-feat-joshua-landis\/\">Around The Empire \u2013 Episode 12: The Battle For Raqqa And Future Of Syria Feat. Joshua Landis<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Apr 3, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>On this episode of Around The Empire, Dan and Joanne interview Syria expert Professor Joshua Landis on the battle for the Syrian city of Raqqa and the various competing forces in the Syrian Civil War.<br \/>\nProfessor Landis discusses the difficulty the United States has in deciding who to work with once ISIS is driven out of its claimed capital of Raqqa. While, in theory, the Assad government is the only government recognized under international law, it appears unlikely that the U.S. will assist that government in reasserting jurisdiction.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Verden<br \/>\nSlag om siste IS-PDF<br \/>\n<strong>Mar 31, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Professor Landis, som leder senteret for Midt\u00f8sten-studier ved universitetet i Oklahoma, har selv vokst opp i SaudiArabia og Libanon, og bodde ogs\u00e5 ?re \u00e5r i Syria. Han var i Syria under oppr\u00f8ret i Hama i 1982, da president Hafez Assad, faren til dagens president Bashar Assad, slo ned p\u00e5 et tidligere islamistisk oppr\u00f8r i Hama, der opp til 20.000 mennesker ble drept.<br \/>\nLandis er sterkt kritisk til det han kaller en inkonsekvent amerikansk utenrikspolitikk vis-avis Iran, som i dag dominerer Syria, Irak, Libanon og Jemen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Verden<br \/>\n-bastion-PDF<br \/>\n<strong>Mar 31, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Professor Landis tror derimot at borgerkrigen i Syria g\u00e5r inn i sin siste fase. Men han er ikke optimistisk av den grunn.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Rudaw<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rudaw.net\/english\/analysis\/29032017\">The geopolitical significance of the Russian deployment to Afrin <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Mar 29, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cRussian-Turkish relations are extremely strained right now,\u201d noted Syria analyst Professor Joshua Landis told Rudaw English. \u201cTurkey has been helping al-Qaeda get arms. Russia and Assad blame Turkey for the recent Hama offensive as well as the Ghoutta\/Joubar offensive in Damascus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRussia&#8217;s move to help the Kurds build military capacity is an escalation meant to punish Turkey for refusing to stop its support to Tahrir al-Sham and anti-Assad militias,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n<p>Afrin would be an ideal launchpad for any future military campaign against militants, like the al-Qaeda-affiliated Tahrir al-Sham, in the nearby Idlib province.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The algemeiner<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.algemeiner.com\/2017\/03\/27\/are-syrian-kurds-the-key-to-defeating-isis\/\">Are Syrian Kurds the Key to Defeating ISIS?<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Mar 27, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe US and Israel could win Rojava [the Kurdish region of Syria] as a loyal Western satellite if they are willing to guarantee its sovereignty and sign a defense agreement,\u201d said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert and director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. Rojava is also commonly known as Western Kurdistan or Syrian Kurdistan.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>LobeLog<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/lobelog.com\/us-team-up-with-kurds-not-turkey-to-destroy-islamic-state\/\">US: Team Up with Kurds Not Turkey to Destroy Islamic State<\/a><br \/>\nBy Joshua Landis<br \/>\n<strong>Mar 18, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The problem with letting the Turks hold Raqqa and presumably the entire Euphrates Valley that is now held by ISIS is that the Turks are endeavoring to hem in the Kurds. To do this, Turkey hopes to establish its Arab proxies in a new \u201cEuphrates state\u201d in eastern Syria. This would partition Syria into three states: a western Asad-ruled state; an eastern Turkish and Sunni Arab rebel-ruled state, and a northern Kurdish state.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>BBC News<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-39284722?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=EBB%203.16.17&amp;utm_term=Editorial%20-%20Military%20-%20Early%20Bird%20Brief\">Syria conflict: Unravelling the puzzle<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Mar 16, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Joshua Landis, director of the Centre for Middle Eastern Politics at Oklahoma University and a close watcher of Syria, says it will be very difficult for Washington to allay Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan&#8217;s fears about the Kurds.<br \/>\n&#8220;President Erdogan,&#8221; Prof Landis told me, &#8220;is convinced that if &#8216;Rojava&#8217; [the term Kurds use to refer to western or Syrian Kurdistan, and the name of a new federal region they want to create] comes into being, Turkey&#8217;s Kurds will have a rear base from which to make a drive for their own independence.<br \/>\n&#8220;Mr Erdogan,&#8221; he adds, &#8220;fears losing eastern Anatolia.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Reuters<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-mideast-crisis-syria-war-idUSKBN16M0PM\">After six years, Assad now secure but his country carved up as war thunders on<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Mar 15, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said Assad\u2019s continued rule was increasingly &#8211; if tacitly &#8211; accepted by the forces that have called for his downfall.<\/p>\n<p>But Landis and others conclude that even if the West and Syria\u2019s neighbors accepted Assad\u2019s partial reoccupation of the country, it would not mean the international community would embrace him, much less help pay for Syria\u2019s reconstruction.<br \/>\n\u201cThe entire western world hates Assad and they\u2019re going to squeeze him economically,\u201d Landis said. \u201cHe\u2019s not going to be reintegrated, he\u2019s going to be like Iraq used to be under Saddam Hussein.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Danish Newsstory<br \/>\nEfter seks \u00e5rs krig ligner Assads sejr det eneste realistiske scenario for Syrien<br \/>\n<strong>Mar 14, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Men fra sin udsigtspost som leder af centeret for mellem\u00f8ststudier ved universitetet i Oklahoma er Syrien-eksperten professor Joshua Landis ikke i tvivl om, hvad de tre generaler taler om:<br \/>\n\u201dSiden Aleppo faldt i december, er dr\u00f8mmen om at tilintetg\u00f8re Bashar al-Assad, smadre hans regime og opbygge et nyt Syrien forbi. Den sidste rest af revolutionen er i dag domineret af salafisterne i de ekstremistiske sunni-grupper. Det eneste realistiske projekt, der er tilbage i Syrien, er Assads projekt: at generobre hele Syrien. Og russerne st\u00e5r bag ham,\u201d siger Joshua Landis.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>GX-7<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elperiodico.com\/es\/internacional\/20170310\/la-guerra-de-trump-en-siria-5889761\">La guerra de Trump en Siria<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Mar 10, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cEl EI est\u00e1 al borde de derrumbarse\u201d, opina Landis en una entrevista telef\u00f3nica. \u201c\u00daltimamente, el Ej\u00e9rcito de Assad, al que no le quedan muchas tropas adicionales, ha avanzado por el norte de Siria hacia el \u00c9ufrates tomando docenas de aldeas controladas por el ISIS sin apenas resistencia, lo que sugiere que tienen serios problemas\u201d, dice utilizando otro de los acr\u00f3nimos del Estado Isl\u00e1mico.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gulan-media.com\/sorani\/details.php?section=2&amp;id=1144\">Gulan-media<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Mar 7, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Aljazeeraa Arabic- Beyond the News Show<br \/>\n<strong>Mar 7, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>NPR Los Angeles SCPR- &#8220;AirTalk&#8221; hosted by Larry Mantle show with Jessica AShou<br \/>\n<strong>Mar 7, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>BBC News Hour<br \/>\n<strong>Mar 7, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Aljazeera English-new TV<br \/>\n<strong>Mar 6, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Hill<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/thehill.com\/blogs\/pundits-blog\/foreign-policy\/320199-how-will-history-judge-obamas-actions-in-syria\">How will history judge Obama\u2019s actions in Syria?<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Feb 21, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>According to Josh Landis, one of the foremost Syria analysts in the U.S., \u201cThere is no way that the United States was going to solve the Syria Problem in any constructive way \u2013 and just keeping us out of it to the extent he [Obama] did was a boon.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>EL PAIS<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/elpais.com\/internacional\/2017\/02\/17\/actualidad\/1487359165_154817.html\">Al Bab: la nueva madre de todas las batallas en Siria<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Feb 19, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>El pasado viernes, el Estado Mayor de las Fuerzas Armadas turcas anunciaba que hab\u00edan roto la resistencia del ISIS y que \u201cla operaci\u00f3n [Escudo del \u00c9ufrates] hab\u00eda conseguido controlar casi por completo Al Bab\u201d. Sin embargo, el Observatorio Sirio de Derechos Humanos, con sede en Londres, lo desment\u00eda asegurando que el ISIS a\u00fan controla el 90% de la localidad y que los bombardeos turcos hab\u00edan provocado la muerte de 45 civiles en dos d\u00edas (seg\u00fan las estimaciones turcas, 10.000 civiles a\u00fan residen en Al Bab y el grupo yihadista los utiliza como escudos humanos). \u201cEl ISIS se ha mostrado un duro contendiente al que llevar\u00e1 mucho tiempo derrotar. Vencerlo no va a salir gratis, habr\u00e1 que sacrificar soldados para ello y tambi\u00e9n morir\u00e1n civiles\u201d, sostiene Joshua Landis, experto en Siria y profesor en la Universidad de Oklahoma.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>L&#8217;Orient le Jour<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lorientlejour.com\/article\/1035848\/pour-lheure-trump-est-sur-la-meme-ligne-quobama-sur-la-syrie.html\">Pour l\u2019heure, Trump est sur la m\u00eame ligne qu\u2019Obama sur la Syrie<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Feb 18, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Selon la presse am\u00e9ricaine, des militaires pourraient ainsi \u00eatre appel\u00e9s en renfort aux c\u00f4t\u00e9s des forces qui prendront part \u00e0 l&#8217;assaut contre la capitale autoproclam\u00e9e de l&#8217;EI, Raqqa. \u00ab Je pense que l&#8217;administration Trump songe \u00e0 envoyer davantage de soldats, mais ce serait une action d\u00e9sastreuse \u00bb, estime Joshua Landis, directeur du Center for Middle East Studies et professeur \u00e0 l&#8217;Universit\u00e9 de l&#8217;Oklahoma. Pour l&#8217;heure, quelque 500 soldats des forces sp\u00e9ciales am\u00e9ricaines sont d\u00e9ploy\u00e9s en Syrie, essentiellement aupr\u00e8s des Forces d\u00e9mocratiques syriennes (FDS), une coalition arabo-kurde. Ces derni\u00e8res ont lanc\u00e9 le 5 novembre dernier une op\u00e9ration militaire confirm\u00e9e par Washington et baptis\u00e9e \u00ab Col\u00e8re de l&#8217;Euphrate \u00bb, dans le but d&#8217;isoler Raqqa. Moscou, T\u00e9h\u00e9ran, mais, bien plus encore, Ankara ont \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9cart\u00e9s de l&#8217;op\u00e9ration, arriv\u00e9e \u00e0 sa troisi\u00e8me phase, \u00e0 laquelle participent les Kurdes du Parti de l&#8217;union d\u00e9mocratique (PYD) \u2013 branche syrienne du Parti des travailleurs du Kurdistan (PKK) \u2013, consid\u00e9r\u00e9 par la Turquie comme un groupe terroriste.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>PolitiFact<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/truth-o-meter\/article\/2017\/feb\/17\/did-donald-trump-inherit-mess\/\">Did Donald Trump inherit &#8216;a mess&#8217; from Barack Obama?<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Feb 17, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We found broad agreement that certain areas of the world are more unstable today than when Obama took office. The biggest one is probably the Middle East.<br \/>\n&#8220;Obama presided over the period of the Arab Spring, in which many Middle Eastern states witnessed large-scale uprisings and the complete failure of several states,&#8221; said Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.<br \/>\n&#8220;In some places such as Libya, Syria and Yemen, Obama&#8217;s diplomacy and military actions made the situation worse,&#8221; he added. &#8220;More aggressive action would probably have backfired, but liberal interventionism did not help.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Okcfox.com<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/okcfox.com\/news\/nation-world\/assad-agrees-with-trump-on-threat-of-syrian-refugees-wont-comment-on-ban\">Assad agrees with Trump on threat of Syrian refugees, won\u2019t comment on ban<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Feb 10, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The potential threat extends beyond ISIS. Members of rebel groups that have allied with the coalition against ISIS and Assad may have radical beliefs too. Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said there are more than 2,000 rebel groups in Syria with different goals, motives, and methods.<br \/>\n\u201c[Assad] is obviously killing a lot of these people because he thinks they\u2019re dangerous,\u201d said Landis, who writes a daily newsletter on Syrian politics called Syria Comment. \u201cHe views them as terrorists. America sees them as freedom fighters, but whether America would want these freedom fighters in our country is a different question.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Washington Times<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2017\/feb\/8\/isis-fight-could-turn-on-military-moves-by-turkey-\/\">Turkish, Syrian moves could transform fight against Islamic State<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Feb 8, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe U.S. has always had three offers to take Raqqa, [and] it does not like any of them,\u201d said Joshua Landis, who heads the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, regarding cooperation with Turkish, Syrian or Kurdish forces.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Red Dirt Report<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.reddirtreport.com\/red-dirt-news\/expert-says-us-playing-fire-middle-east\">Expert says the US is playing with fire in the Middle East<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Feb 6, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>As the situation in Syria grows ever more complex, Joshua Landis, head of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma explained the intricacies Syrian situation to a crowded house at the Tyner Cornbread and Beans on Feb. 3<br \/>\nLandis said the balance of power changed from Sunni to Shi\u2019a (60 percent of the Iraqi population) when the US invaded Iraq in 2003, which led to a civil war that is still in process. At the opposite, the Sunni represented 70 percent of the Syrian population before the civil war and should have won against Assad, but it didn\u2019t happen.<br \/>\n\u201cThe Shi\u2019a had better friends,\u201d Landis said, adding Shi\u2019a are now dominant in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon (through Hezbollah).<br \/>\nLandis said Iran is financing and arming the Hezbollah to use them as a counter power against Israel and therefore dissuade Israel to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. He added it is why Syria is important for Iran, because it allows the transit of weapons from Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon, without being intercepted by Americans.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Morning Call<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mcall.com\/news\/local\/allentown\/mc-allentown-syrians-react-to-trump-20170130-story.html\">In Allentown&#8217;s Syrian community, a divide over Trump&#8217;s travel ban <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jan 30, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Syrian Christians&#8217; distrust of Muslims goes back a long way, said Joshua Landis, an expert on the Middle East at the University of Oklahoma. Many came to Syria after fleeing persecution in Turkey and found relative safety under the dictatorial rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Under his regime, Muslims and Christians had managed to coexist until the 2011 uprisings that led to civil war.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Christian community in Syria [broadly speaking] has been supportive of Assad because they fear Islamic fundamentalists taking over the country,&#8221; he said. And they see the opposition forces being dominated by Islamic extremists.<br \/>\nThe country&#8217;s disastrous civil war has widened the rift between Syria&#8217;s Christian and Muslim communities, Landis said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Norman Transcript<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.normantranscript.com\/news\/joshua-landis-to-speak-at-tyner-cornbread-and-beans\/article_87b428f2-e4d6-11e6-b7d4-c32b89ec99b1.html\">Joshua Landis to speak at Tyner Cornbread and Beans <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jan 30, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Joshua Landis, Ph.D. will speak on \u201cUS Foreign Policy toward ISIS and the Middle East Crisis: Where is it headed?\u201d at noon at the Democratic Tyner Cornbread and Beans lunch, West Wind Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 1309 West Boyd in Norman, Friday, Feb. 3. Cafeteria style cornbread and beans service is available at 11:30 a.m.<\/p>\n<p>Landis is Director of the Center for Middle East Studies and Professor at the University of Oklahoma. He writes \u201cSyriaComment.com,\u201d a daily newsletter on Syrian politics that attracts some 100,000 page-reads a month. Dr. Landis publishes frequently in policy journals such as Foreign Policy and Foreign Affairs. He speaks regularly at think tanks in Washington and is a frequent analyst on TV, radio, and in print. He has appeared recently on the PBS News Hour, the Charlie Rose Show, and Front Line. He is a regular on NPR and the BBC.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Al Jazeera English<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_YwEg3mJeXM\">Inside Story &#8211; What triggered the infighting among Syrian rebels?<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jan 29, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra<\/p>\n<p>Guests: Louay Safi, Syrian National Council former spokesman.<\/p>\n<p>Can Kasapoglu, Defence analyst, Center for Economic and Foreign Policy Studies in Turkey.<\/p>\n<p>Joshua Landis, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies, University of Oklahoma.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>AP<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/13ffaba644724e748bf93c1612f785a6\">Syria talks may signal shift in conflict dynamics<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jan 23, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, said Assad is unlikely to depart from this policy at Astana.<br \/>\n\u201cBy now, it has become clear that Assad cannot offer major political reform without jeopardizing his regime security,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>AP<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/a65d57fd8c954996a8cbd00815160084\">With little room to maneuver, Syria\u2019s rebels head for talks<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jan 20, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Syrian rebels are sending more than a dozen representatives next week to the capital of Kazakhstan for talks with government representatives, the first such negotiations between the two sides in a year.<br \/>\nBut the loss of Aleppo, the election of Donald Trump and the pivot of Turkey toward Russia has left the opposition with very little room to maneuver.<br \/>\nWithout much foreign support and with Syria\u2019s wider rebellion in crisis, the opposition will be negotiating for scraps, having been forced to take part in a Russia-led initiative that won\u2019t challenge President Bashar Assad\u2019s hold on power.<br \/>\n\u201cThey have no choice. With Trump\u2019s win, any lingering hope to push the West into increasing its rebel support is lost,\u201d said Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Turkish TV<br \/>\n<strong>Jan 20, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>TRT World<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3inR2Urj4OI\">Joshua Landis on why hard line rebel groups won&#8217;t join the Astana talks on Syria<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jan 19, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Russian TV-RTV<br \/>\n<strong>Jan 19, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Foreign Policy.com<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/2017\/01\/18\/barack-obama-was-a-foreign-policy-failure\/?utm_source=Sailthru&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=New%20Campaign&amp;utm_term=%2AEditors%20Picks\">Barack Obama Was a Foreign-Policy Failure<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jan 18, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Obama and his team misread and mishandled the Arab Spring. As Joshua Landis explains in a remarkable, must-read interview, the U.S. response to these events \u2014 and especially Syria \u2014 was ill-conceived from the very start. In particular, Obama and his team mistakenly viewed the Arab Spring as a large-scale, grass-roots uprising clamoring for liberal democracy and embraced it too quickly. They also underestimated the ability of violent extremists to exploit power vacuums in failed states and the resilience of authoritarian regimes in places like Syria or Egypt. These misunderstandings led to Obama\u2019s disastrous intervention in Libya, his inept diplomatic interference in Yemen, and the premature demand that \u201cAssad must go\u201d in Syria.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>RT<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/op-ed\/373083-trump-carter-us-russia\/\">US establishment \u2018sticking it to Trump\u2019 because he seeks cooperation with Russia <\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jan 9, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Washington is undertaking a demonizing campaign against Russia right now, but in reality, it is less about Russia than it is about Donald Trump, says Joshua Landis from the Center for Middle East Studies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>El PAIS<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/elpais.com\/internacional\/2017\/01\/06\/actualidad\/1483729107_372698.html#comentarios\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">La legi\u00f3n extranjera que lucha con El Asad<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Jan 7, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Mientras que la mayor\u00eda de los expertos coinciden en el papel clave que desempe\u00f1an las milicias chi\u00edes en el campo de batalla sirio, el norteamericano Joshua Landis relativiza su impacto. \u201cEl ratio de muertos es esclarecedor. El ej\u00e9rcito sirio ha perdido m\u00e1s de 100.000 hombres, mientras que Hezbol\u00e1 e Ir\u00e1n unos 1.000 cada uno. Queda claro que quien encaja las p\u00e9rdidas en el campo de batalla son los soldados y los paramilitares sirios\u201d. Para Landis, la potencia chi\u00ed sigue siendo un actor clave en el respaldo de El Asad, cuyo refuerzo le ha permitido anotarse un tanto en la lucha regional contra el archienemigo sun\u00ed Arabia Saud\u00ed. Una victoria que no solo se debe a la eficiencia de las milicias chi\u00edes en Siria, sino que se extiende a los r\u00e1pidos avances de \u00e9stas en Irak en la lucha contra el ISIS: \u201cAl fin y al cabo, las milicias chi\u00edes apadrinadas por Ir\u00e1n cuentan con el apoyo de las dos principales potencias a\u00e9reas mundiales: la estadounidense en Iraq, y la rusa en Siria\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>AL-Hurra TV<br \/>\n<strong>Jan 5, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"news_archive_list\">\n<li>Browse Archive By Year<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/\">Current<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2018\/\">2018<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"active\" href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2017\/\">2017<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2016\/\">2016<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2015\/\">2015<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2014\/\">2014<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2013\/\">2013<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2012\/\">2012<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2011\/\">2011<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2010\/\">2010<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2009\/\">2009<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2008\/\">2008<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2007\/\">2007<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2006\/\">2006<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2005\/\">2005<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news\/landis-news-2004\/\">2004<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Browse Archive By Year Current 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 TRTWorld Roundtable: Has Bashar al-Assad won the war in Syria? Dec 22, 2017 In the beginning it was all about bringing down the president &#8211; but now talk of removing Syria&#8217;s leader Bashar al-Assad [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-25943","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Landis in the News 2017 - Syria Comment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news-2017\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Landis in the News 2017 - Syria Comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Browse Archive By Year Current 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 TRTWorld Roundtable: Has Bashar al-Assad won the war in Syria? 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Dec 22, 2017 In the beginning it was all about bringing down the president &#8211; but now talk of removing Syria&#8217;s leader Bashar al-Assad [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news-2017\/","og_site_name":"Syria Comment","article_modified_time":"2020-01-09T18:08:17+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@joshua_landis","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"48 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news-2017\/","url":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news-2017\/","name":"Landis in the News 2017 - Syria Comment","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-01-02T23:18:22+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-09T18:08:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news-2017\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news-2017\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/landis-news-2017\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Landis in the News 2017"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/","name":"Syria Comment","description":"Syrian politics, history, and religion","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P38J3A-6Kr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25943"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26242,"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/25943\/revisions\/26242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}