Shift in U.S. Policy Suggests it’s More Open to Gradual Departure of President Assad

U.S. policy is becoming more open to the gradual departure of President Bashar al Assad, the New York Times reports.

“The Obama administration maintains that a lasting political solution requires Mr. Assad’s exit. But facing military stalemate, well-armed jihadists and the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, the United States is going along with international diplomatic efforts that could lead to more gradual change in Syria,” writes the paper.

The gradual shift is underscored by its support for a pair of two diplomatic initiatives – one from the United Nations and another from Russia – suggesting that it is has backed away from the revival of the Geneva framework, calling for a transfer of power to a “transitional governing body,” the paper writes.

Previous peace talks held in Geneva almost a year ago failed to produce results or ongoing momentum. Opposition leaders demanded Assad’s departure, while the regime insisted that the focus of the negotiation should be on countering “terrorism,” its term for armed resistance to its rule.

“That shift comes along with other American actions that Mr. Assad’s supporters and opponents take as proof Washington now believes that if Mr. Assad is ousted, there will be nothing to check the spreading chaos and extremism,” the paper writes.

The United States still “trains and equips” the Syrian opposition, but U.S. attention has mostly been focused on targeting the Islamic State, which now controls half of Syria’s territory.

Syria Begins Destruction of Chemical Weapons Facilities

Syria has started to destroy its remaining weapons production sites, including underground bunkers and hangers use for the production and storage of chemical weapons, Reuters reports, citing diplomatic sources.

A total of 1,300 metric tonnes of chemical weapons were removed from Syria last year after Syria joined the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. However, it is months behind schedule in destroying the structures that house them.

Syria had said that it would begin the destruction of the 12 hangars in November, but work stalled due to bad weather and logistical problems.

“Destruction operations commenced in December,” the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) spokesman Peter Sawczak told AFP. Bashar Jaafari, Syria’s U.N. ambassador, has indicated that the destruction process will be completed by June. Syria joined the OPCW following a sarin gas attack that killed over 1,000 people in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta on Aug. 21, 2013. An OPCW fact-finding mission has been investigating the use of chlorine bombs in Syria, issuing a report last year saying that it had found compelling evidence chemical weapons had been used “systematically and repeatedly” in Syria since the chemical attack in August.

Syria has denied accusations that it has withheld part of its chemical weapons stockpile.

Iran Confirms Death of High-Ranking Commander in Israeli Attack in Syria

Iran confirmed Monday the death of one of its high-ranking commanders in an Israeli airstrike that also killed several Hezbollah fighters in Southern Syria on Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

In a statement, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps called the Israeli attack “criminal” and renewed its accusations that Israel and the United States were supporting “al-Qaida-style” groups to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“The attack placed Israel in a direct battlefield confrontation on Syrian soil with its longtime enemies Iran and Hezbollah. And it put pressure on Hezbollah to respond militarily, risking further escalation on the outskirts of Syria’s chaotic civil war,” the New York Times writes.

The attack on two vehicles traveling in the Syrian Golan Hights came days after Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said Syria and its allies had the right to respond to what he called repeated Israeli attacks inside Syria.

Israel has conducted several airstrikes on Syria since 2011, mostly destroying weaponry believed to be destined for Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.

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