Syria’s Phony Peace Talks - WSJ
Syria’s Phony Peace Talks - WSJ Monday February 1 st , 2016 at 12:51 PM 1 Share Regarding the Syrian peace talks that began over the weekend in Geneva, allow us to raise two questions: What peace—and what talks? The regime of Bashar Assad is intensifying its longstanding “starve or kneel” policy against besieged enclaves containing an estimated half a million people. The regime has also scored recent battlefield victories against moderate opposition forces, aided by a combination of Russian air power, Hezbollah ground fighters and Iran’s elite Quds Force. Meantime, the Institute for the Study of War reports that Islamic State (ISIS) has responded to its recent losses in Iraq by launching a fresh offensive in eastern Syria to consolidate control of the Euphrates River valley, while the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front is gaining strength in Aleppo, once Syria’s commercial capital. Neither ISIS nor Nusra are at the talks, and they will continue to fi