David Petraeus Urges Stronger U.S. Military Effort in Syria

The Obama administration’s Syria policy came under sharp criticism on Tuesday from one of its own former top military commanders and CIA directors – David Patraeus – even as the White House weighs new options for fighting the Islamic State in Syria, the New York Times reports.

In his first public statement since resigning as director of the CIA in 2012, Mr. Petraeus told a Senate committee that the U.S. should establish safe havens in Syria in which a moderate rebel force could operate and where displaced Syrians could find refuge under the protection of American and allied air power.

Petraeus also suggested the U.S. takes military action to stop the barrel-bomb attacks carried out by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s forces against civilians in towns and cities across the war-torn country.

His most severe criticism, however, was that the U.S. and its partners had done little to build up military leverage against the Assad government to bring about a political solution to the bloody conflict.

Experts and Locals Scrambling to Document Syria’s Heritage

Scientists are slipping 3D cameras into Syria so that local residents and activists can scan the war-torn country’s increasingly imperiled antiques, the Associated Press reports.

A U.S.-funded project is underway to provide local conservators with high-tech resources to safeguard and document Syria’s invaluable relics. Volunteers inside Syria are scrambling to document damage to monuments and confirm what remains of the country’s millennia-long cultural heritage in the face of threats due to the country’s ongoing civil war, now in its fifth year.

Historical sites have been consistently damaged since the war began, hit by shelling and government airstrikes, intentionally destroyed by members of the Islamic State and/or exposed to rampant looting.

The project has recently been kicked into high gear, in a desperate attempt to stay ahead of the expanding Islamic State group, which has ruthlessly destroyed and looted any site that falls into its hands – most recently the ancient city of Palmyra – as it spreads across Syria and neighboring Iraq.

U.S.: Military Talks with Moscow Tied to Syria Political Path

U.S. defense secretary Ash Carter is still unsure of Russia’s military intentions in Syria, but intends to hold no further conversations unless Moscow agrees to participate in talks aimed at a political solution to the civil war, the Associated Press reports.

Carter delivered the message to Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu via telephone last Friday as they discussed Russia’s military buildup in Syria and how it connects – or interferes with – a U.S.-led coalition air campaign against Islamic State forces. Carter has reportedly not closed the door to further talks but sees no point in military discussions if Russia does not join the political track.

Although Carter’s spokesman said the conversation with Shoigu was constructive, it seems to have brought no clarity on what Moscow intends to do with the forces it has sent to Syria in recent weeks. These include a substantial number of fighter aircrafts, tanks, helicopters, support equipment and troops at an air base near the coastal city of Latakia. Russia is not part of the multinational coalition led by the U.S. that has been bombing ISIS targets in Syria since September 2014.

Recommended Reads

• The Guardian: Syria confirms receipt of Russian jets to target Isis
• Time: The Syrian Refugee Crisis Shows Far More Young People Want to Flee War Than Fight It
• Slate: Desperate in Damascus
• Time: These 5 Facts Explain Bashar Assad’s Hold in Syria
• The New York Time: As Others Flee to West, Most Syrian Refugees Remain in Region