Dear Deeply Readers,

Welcome to the archives of Syria Deeply. While we paused regular publication of the site on May 15, 2018, and transitioned some of our coverage to Peacebuilding Deeply, we are happy to serve as an ongoing public resource on the Syrian conflict. We hope you’ll enjoy the reporting and analysis that was produced by our dedicated community of editors contributors.

We continue to produce events and special projects while we explore where the on-site journalism goes next. If you’d like to reach us with feedback or ideas for collaboration you can do so at [email protected].

BROWSE THE SYRIA DEEPLY ARCHIVES

U.N. General Assembly: Syrian Analyses

To give you an overview of the commentary surrounding the 70th U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York, an annual summit of global leaders that will bring particular focus to the ongoing crisis in Syria, we’ve organized a breakdown of some of the best analysis pieces across the internet.

Written by Syria Deeply Published on Read time Approx. 3 minutes

Obama Willing to Work with Iran, Russia to End Syria Conflict

The United States is willing to work with Iran and Russia to try to end the Syrian conflict, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday, but insisted there could not be a return to the status quo under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Reuters reports.

“The United States is prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict,” Obama said at the annual gathering of world leaders. “But we must recognize that there cannot be, after so much bloodshed, so much carnage, a return to the pre-war status quo.”

In voicing a willingness to deal with Iran and Russia, both staunch backers of Assad, Obama was openly acknowledging their influence in Syria and swallowing a somewhat bitter pill for the United States.

After Four Years of Failure in Syria, Obama Looks to Russia and Iran for Help

“In what was generally a boilerplate paean to democracy, the rule of law, and the virtues of diplomacy, Obama conceded ‘nowhere is our commitment to international order more tested than in Syria’ where ‘realism dictates that compromise will be required,’” writes Christopher Dickey at the Daily Beast.

“Reality also demonstrates that Obama’s efforts to shape a policy over the last four years of violence have been utter failures, with the latest humiliations including the defection of U.S.-trained Syrian rebel forces to the ranks of al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate,” says Dickey.

When it came to future of the Assad government, however, Obama laid out a platform that includes the Syrian president’s two biggest backers, Tehran and Moscow, while carefully stating that a return “the prewar status quo” would be impossible.

According to Dickey, “that point would seem to be moot. Syria has changed forever, and it will be a miracle if, at the end of the day, it can be held together as one integral nation, let alone the country it was five years ago. And while Obama seems to be personalizing the enemy as Assad, Washington has always acknowledged quietly that the institutions of his government can and should be preserved.”

US-Russia Tensions on Show as Putin and Obama Clash Over Syria

“Russian actions in Syria have exacerbated the dilemma in Washington and allied capitals over what to do about the Syrian conflict,” write Ian Black and Julian Border of the Guardian, as the presidents of both Russia and the U.S. traded jabs Monday at the United Nations in New York.

While the White House has said it would welcome a Russian role in the fight against Islamic State, it insists Assad’s departure from power must be part of any political solution: a move to which Moscow, one of the Syrian government’s most powerful allies, is directly opposed.

“We support the legitimate government of Syria,” Putin said at the U.N. on Monday. “And there is no other solution to the Syrian crisis than strengthening the effective government structures and rendering their help in fighting terrorism, but at the same time urging them to engage in positive dialogue with the rational opposition and conduct reform.”

Top image: Russia’s Vladimir Putin waits to begin his address to the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Monday, Sept. 28, 2015. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Recommended Reads

Republish this article

Our mission is to empower stakeholders and the wider public with high quality information, insights, and analysis on critical global issues. To help achieve this, we encourage you to republish the text of any article that contains a Republish button on your own news outlet.

By copying the HTML below, you agree to adhere to our republishing guidelines.

By copying the HTML below, you agree to adhere to our republishing guidelines. Click to expand

  1. In republishing any of our articles:

    Ensure that you include a line of our HTML tracking code on every article you republish. This is a lightweight, efficient way for us to see the number of page views of each specific article published on our partners’ websites. This does not affect page layout, nor does it provide any information about your users, other web pages on your site, or any further data. By copying and pasting the HTML code in the box below, the tracking code is automatically included.

    If, for any reason, you do not copy the code prepared for you, you must paste this code snippet into the end of the article in your CMS: 

    <img src="http://ping.newsdeeply.com/pixel.gif?key=96537&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newsdeeply.com%2Fsyria%2Farticles%2F2015%2F09%2F28%2Fu-n-general-assembly-syrian-analyses-3" alt="" />

  2. Adhere to the guidelines below:
    • Edit our stories only to reflect references to time (e.g. "today" to "yesterday"), location (e.g. "New York" to "here") or editorial style; do not edit the wording of our articles.
    • Include all the links within the story.
    • Credit our authors and partner institutions — ideally in the byline. We prefer “Author Name, Institution”
    • Note at the top and/or bottom of the story that it originally appeared on Syria Deeply. This note should include a direct link to the original article and a sentence that offers the reader the opportunity to join the Syria’s mailing list. Our recommended example is:
      • This should read : “This article originally appeared on Syria Deeply. You can find the original here. For important news about the war in Syria, you can sign up to the Syria email list.”
    • Do not republish a photo without our written permission. Some sources don't allow their images to be republished without permission.
    • Do not translate a story into another language without our written permission.
    • We often republish pieces from our partners. If you want to republish a partner’s story, you must credit the original partner and include a “via News Deeply” link.
    • Note that News Deeply considers the publication date to be the date marked on the story, and is not responsible for any content that you choose to repost.
    • After republication on the partner website, if you make an accompanying post on social media referencing the republished article, you must include the relevant Deeply social media handle in such post. For example, (i) for Twitter posts this means adding the appropriate @Deeply tag such as @SyriaDeeply, @WaterDeeply, or @WomensGirlsHub and (ii) for Facebook this means tagging the appropriate Deeply page in your Facebook post.
    • News Deeply material may not to be provided, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, to third parties or affiliates for redistribution through those entities, unless you have received prior written approval from News Deeply.
    • You may not automatically or systematically republish any material from our sites; all stories must be chosen individually for republishing.
    • You may not sell our content or republish it for commercial purposes without our prior written consent.
    • We reserve the right to request that any partner ceases republication of our content, including but not limited to if the guidelines listed above not being followed.
    • If you have any questions or concerns please contact [email protected]

Suggest your story or issue.

Send

Share Your Story.

Have a story idea? Interested in adding your voice to our growing community?

Learn more