- Leon Wieseltier: Aleppo’s fall is Obama’s failure
- Aleppo evacuation suspended after 8,000 people removed
- Russian special forces seen as key to Aleppo victory
- FPI’s James Kirchick: Credibility counts
Adding 200 troops to the existing 300 would seem to bring the total Syria deployment to 500. But it doesn't mean 200 operators are actually heading to the war zone. A Pentagon spokesman has acknowledged that Carter merely "authorized" a higher number of troops to deploy, without revealing the actual number of troops operating in the war zones. – Washington Examiner
Editorial: On Tuesday, Mr. Obama’s U.N. ambassador, Samantha Power, delivered an impassioned denunciation of the Aleppo carnage, which she said would “join the ranks of those events in world history that define modern evil, that stain our conscience decades later.” She excoriated the Assad regime, Russia and Iran but offered no acknowledgment that the stain of Aleppo extends also to her, the president and American honor. Those who will live with the long-term consequences of the Syrian catastrophe are unlikely to be so forgiving. – Washington Post
Frederic Hof writes: Once [Trump] has mastered the salient facts of the Syrian crisis, will he continue with policies and polemics in western Syria that embolden Russian adventurism in the region and beyond, facilitate the hegemonic designs of Iran, and help make the propaganda case for ISIS in Sunni Muslim communities around the world? These are the things the Obama administration has, quite unintentionally, succeeded in doing. The United States can, under new management, do much better. – Defense News
Hanin Ghaddar writes: This is not a civil war. Only when we stop calling it a civil war, we might be able to understand the history and strategy of the regime, the various layers of the Syrian people, the interests of those who are already intervening, and the significance of accountability. – Washington
Russia declared on Tuesday that the four-year battle over Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, was over, as the last remaining rebel fighters agreed to turn over their territory to the Syrian government. While pro-government forces were moving in, United Nations officials said they were receiving multiple reports of execution-style killings. – New York Times
Artillery shelling resumed early Wednesday on besieged eastern neighborhoods of the Syrian city of Aleppo, delaying a promised evacuation of thousands of civilians and medical staff members who had been expecting to leave under the aegis of a deal announced at the United Nations. – New York Times
The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that a United States airstrike had killed three Islamic State operatives who were involved in mounting terrorist attacks in Europe, including the deadly assault in Paris in November 2015. – New York Times
The Islamic State’s conquest of Palmyra appears to have netted the group a trove of weaponry, armor, ammunition and equipment that risks fueling a surge of gains by the militants in Syria at a time when attention has been diverted on the battle unfolding in Aleppo. – Washington Post
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday tore into the Obama administration for "inaction" on Syria as president Bashar Assad's forces reclaim Aleppo from rebel groups. – The Hill
In a dramatic setback to the Syrian regime, the Islamic State terrorist group recaptured the oil fields in central Syria and the city of Palmyra on Sunday. Syrian media published the names of 11 officers and 49 soldiers killed in the battle, while several Syrian soldiers were taken prisoner, according to ISIS video posted Monday. – Washington Free Beacon
Aleppo's fall to Syrian government forces is shaping up as the first major test of President-elect Donald Trump's desire to cooperate with Russia, whose military support has proven pivotal in Syria's civil war. The death and destruction in the city is only renewing Democratic and Republican concern with Trump's possible new path. – Associated Press
The fall of the last rebel-held areas in the Syrian city of Aleppo could seal the fate of the "Obama Doctrine," deepening the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in decades and staining U.S. President Barack Obama's legacy. - Reuters
David Daoud writes: ISIS has murdered Americans domestically and abroad, undermined U.S. interests and threatened U.S. allies like Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Trump’s objective of using American military power to defeat the group is therefore sound. However, doing so while allowing Assad to remain in power would turn the laudable goal of ISIS’s destruction into a net strategic loss for Washington. Instead of starving Hezbollah, it would empower that implacable enemy of the United States—one which has already proven itself a formidable threat to Americans. - Newsweek
David Ignatius writes: The fall of Aleppo is a human catastrophe. It’s also a demonstration of the perils of choosing the middle course in a military conflict. Sometimes it’s possible to talk and fight at the same time. But in Syria, the U.S. decision to pursue a dual-track, halfway approach made the mayhem worse. – Washington Post
Stephen Hayes writes: Obama's single-minded pursuit of one legacy-defining accomplishment, the Iran deal, ensures that his legacy will be forever blackened by the tragedy of Syria. His presidency will be remembered as a time when America brushed aside its responsibility as a leader, ignored its responsibility to our fellow human beings, and turned a blind eye to the atrocities in Aleppo and elsewhere. On this, at least, it will be remembered, in the words of one former proponent of American exceptionalism, as a betrayal of who we are. – The Weekly Standard
Max Boot writes: To get an idea of how long such a conflict can continue, recall that the Lebanese civil war lasted 15 years—from 1975 to 1990—and only ended because of outside intervention by Bashar Assad’s father, Hafez. The Syrian conflict is less than six years old. If there is no outside intervention in Syria—and that appears unlikely—the fighting can continue indefinitely. And that means that Syria will remain not only the scene of continuing war crimes but that it will also be a haven for terrorists and an exporter of refugees—a “geopolitical Chernobyl,” in the words of David Petraeus, that will continue to spew its toxins across the region and the world. – Commentary