chemical weapons

The ruins following the 2018 American-led bombing of Homs. (Fathi Nizam/CC BY 4.0)

After Syria strike, showdown looms over the future of the Iran nuclear deal

The success of a coordinated military strike on Assad’s chemical weapon stockpiles actually bodes well for the Iran nuclear deal. By Shemuel Meir Western powers made good on their warning to the Assad regime on April 14, 2018, and attacked the production and storage sites of the chemical weapons in his possession. The coordinated, wide-ranging operation by the United…

By +972 Magazine April 22, 2018

Palestinian refugees seen in Yarmouk refugee camp, Damascus, Syria. (photo: Walla Masoud/UNRWA)

The American strategic mistake in Syria no one’s talking about

For all the talk of intervention or lack of intervention, there’s one strategic error the U.S. made in Syria that nobody’s discussing — President Bill Clinton’s failure to give full American backing to an Israel-Syria peace deal when it was still possible. By Gilad Halpern The headline “A president is born” is probably being written…

By +972 Magazine April 10, 2017

Destruction due to shelling in Douma, a town under siege northeast of Damascus. (photo: Adasa Sham)

After chemical attack, Damascus suburbs face starvation

Since the beginning of 2013, Assad’s forces have laid siege on the suburbs of the capital known as Ghouta, which was the target of a chemical weapons attack earlier this summer. Regime forces are stopping food and other goods from coming in and as winter approaches, activists are warning that the situation is about to…

By +972 Magazine October 3, 2013

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Bombed out buildings in Aleppo, Syria. December 26, 2012 (Freedom House/CC)

The least terrible policy in Syria: Doing nothing

Sending armies or air forces to stop jihadists from grabbing Syria’s chemical weapons would be inordinately daunting and dangerous – and inconclusive. I, too, would like to neutralize the threat of the jihadists in Syria, and Hezbollah, and the possibility that they will take control of Assad’s chemical weapons (and worse, much worse, his…

By Larry Derfner April 29, 2013