The Obama administration can no longer sit on two chairs when it comes to Syria: Washington will either have to join forces with Moscow and Damascus in their anti-Daesh efforts or will have to commit to ousting Bashar al-Assad, as Turkey and Saudi Arabia have long advocated, editor and critic Patrick Smith wrote for The Fiscal Times.




"It starts to�look like�truth time for�the Obama administration. Its intentions in�Syria � defeat [Daesh] or oust Assad � have been a blur for�nearly two years, and this trick's now part of�the problem, not the solution," he noted.


Smith argues that the situation has dramatically changed after�the long-awaited Geneva peace talks failed to�produce any results. To a certain extent, they failed since�the Saudi-backed umbrella opposition group "left town because it's losing the war � the war against�Assad, of�course, not [Daesh]."


This was not the intended outcome for�the US. Geneva talks, according to�the expert, were meant to�serve as "the proving ground for [Washington's] contention � or pretense � that there are 'Syrian moderates' worthy of�backing in�their fight against [Daesh], or the Bashar al-Assad government in�Damascus, or both."

The reality turned out�to be different: so-called moderate Syrian rebels are an artificial concept. As a result, the Obama administration, as�Smith puts it, "has painted itself into�a tight little corner."
"First, the Syrian Arab Army, with�Russian air support, is now winning the war," the expert noted. "As of�last week the SAA was reported to�be within�four or five kilometers of�Aleppo, Syria's largest city. There's no more pretending on�this point."


Second, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are increasingly active in�the region. Last week, the former voiced its readiness to�take part in�a ground operation in�Syria if the US-led coalition decides to�launch one. Meanwhile, Ankara has long been rumored to�be preparing for�a ground offensive in�northern Syria.

Both countries claim that they are fully committed to�tackling Daesh, but�their true motives are different. Riyadh wants to�provide additional backing to�Islamist groups it has long supported, while Ankara plans to�crack down�on the Kurds outside�Turkey and assist rebels in�Latakia.
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