JRL NEWSWATCH: “Iran Role in Syria Key Item at Trump-Putin Summit” – AP

July 13, 2018 JRL Russia List Iran, JRL NewsBlog, Middle East, North Africa, Military, Syria, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

“As fighting wanes after seven years of war, the U.S. has made curtailing Iran’s influence in post-war Syria a strategic objective – one strongly backed by Israel. … officials from the U.S. and Russia have signaled that a broad framework for such a deal is likely to be the main outcome. But any agreement is likely to be carefully phrased and general in nature, and discussions are likely to be centered more on limiting Iran’s presence rather than ending it, analysts say. … After years of ruinous civil war, Iran and its proxy militias, including the Lebanese Hezbollah, have built up a formidable presence stretching from the Iraqi border through central Syria to Lebanon. … Assad, with crucial military and political assistance from Iran and Russia, has recaptured around 60 percent of the country, including its main cities, putting an end to any serious talk of regime change in Damascus. ….”