The Biden administration’s high official overseeing Syria coverage, Aimee Cutrona, is shifting on to a brand new position.
Ethan Goldrich, who beforehand served because the US cost d’affaires within the United Arab Emirates, took over Cutrona’s put up as deputy assistant secretary for Levant affairs and Syria engagement on Monday, the State Division introduced at this time.
Cutrona will tackle a brand new project that can be made public sooner or later, a State Division spokesperson instructed Al-Monitor by way of electronic mail.
In his new position, Goldrich can even oversee the execution of the State Division’s response to Lebanon’s political disaster and financial collapse, in addition to reinvigorated engagement with longtime ally Jordan, which confronted an unprecedented alleged coup try earlier this yr.
But as the brand new administration focuses on mending troubles at house and long-term preparations to go off a rising China, Washington’s Syria coverage stays amorphous.
With the Islamic State (IS) largely defeated and President Bashar al-Assad answerable for a lot of the nation, the struggle’s remaining redoubts are frozen in stalemate. In the meantime, oblique US negotiations with Iran, a key participant within the battle, have stalled.
To this point, the Biden administration’s strategy to Syria’s battle has differed from that of the Trump administration’s solely in shades, with a brand new emphasis on ensuring humanitarian support.
On the strategic stage, nonetheless, the coverage stays underneath overview. Biden administration officers have to this point not departed from the Trump-era strategy of indefinitely leaving US troops within the nation following the territorial defeat of IS.
Some 900 US troops occupy a swath of Syrian territory in help of native Kurdish-led militias who bore the brunt of the struggle in opposition to IS. Collectively they preserve safety in a area house to some 4 million Syrians, whereas additionally conserving a lid on makeshift prisons that maintain 1000’s of IS fighters captured in battle.
In addition they management Syria’s main wheat-producing area and the country’s lucrative oilfields.
The coverage to depart US troops in post-IS Syria was devised underneath the auspices of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as Trump administration officers noticed within the nation’s stalemated battlefield an opportunity to deny Russia and Iran — Assad’s most important overseas backers — a clear victory within the area.
Trump sought repeatedly to undo the coverage and pull US forces from the nation, citing what he known as “limitless struggle.” Prime advisers pushed again on these orders, nonetheless. Outrage from some US officers over Turkey’s assaults in opposition to Kurdish-led forces amid Trump’s October 2019 withdrawal order led the previous president to reverse his resolution.
Biden administration officers have indicated US troops usually are not leaving Syria anytime quickly and have added new sanctions on the Assad regime. Washington continues to insist the regime implement reforms according to UN Safety Council Decision 2254 calling free of charge and truthful elections in Syria.
Assad met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow final week to discuss the conflict.
In the meantime, Arab governments are exploring choices for normalizing ties with the Assad regime, regardless of warnings of potential US sanctions from Washington.
