A growing number of incidents involving U.S. and Russian forces in Syria has highlighted yet another strategic blindspot in the Middle East for Washington, as its shifting politics leave U.S. troops essentially stranded to guard oil and gas resources while Moscow presses on with a five-year effort to stabilize the war-torn nation. With no clear path forward, a range of voices within the U.S., Russian and Syrian governments, and on the ground in areas under the control of a Pentagon-backed autonomous administration in the country, have expressed doubts to Newsweek over the current approach. “It’s a clusterf**k in Syria,” one senior U.S. intelligence official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, told Newsweek . “We don’t have a strategy.” The frustrations come as the U.S. nears an election in which both candidates vow to end the “endless wars” waged by their predecessors. Come January, either former Vice President Joe Biden—who oversaw U.S. support for insurgents fighting to overthrow the Syrian government under former President Barack Obama—or President Donald Trump—who inherited a campaign then focused on fighting the Islamic State militant group (ISIS)—will steer a U.S. policy on Syria that is currently presented with mixed… Read full this story
- For east Syria, US troops are about much more than oil
- Syria's Bashar al-Assad Reflects on Civil War, Oil, Terrorism and America in Rare Interview
- Syria's Assad Dismisses War Crimes Allegations in Rare Interview, Claims He Is 'Capturing the Hearts of the People'
- Sultan Erdogan's War on...Russia
- Fate of Syria’s Kurds now completely in Russia’s untrustworthy hands as Putin promises ‘not to allow’ Assad and Turkey to go to war
- How war has changed since 1989
- Syria’s Kurds look to Assad for protection after US pullout
- For Donald Trump, Syria pullout is a win and Putin may also see it that way
- Trump's Syrian Oil Deployment 'Tantamount to Robbery,' Russia Says
- Syria: UN warns 750,000 people at risk amid fresh violence
U.S. Troops in Syria Stuck Fighting 'Forgotten War' for Oil as Russia Advances Around Them have 333 words, post on www.newsweek.com at September 3, 2020. This is cached page on X-Buy. If you want remove this page, please contact us.