The Deadly End of American Policy in Syria

In Syria, aligning with the United States has often proved costly. Throughout eight years of civil war, Syrians who tied their fortunes to the changing whims of American policy have been systematically arrested, killed, and driven from the country.

First it was protesters chanting for democracy—many took encouragement from Barack Obama’s statement in the summer of 2011 that the country’s dictator, Bashar al-Assad, should step down. But the U.S. government looked on as protesters were killed or disappeared into the regime’s teeming prisons. Then, in the summer of 2012, a fledgling insurgency rose to international attention when fighters seized large swaths of Aleppo, Syria’s commercial capital and most populous city. Rebel leaders saw promise in with CIA officers to discuss potential U.S. backing. As the war worsened, the CIA did end up