Syria: Power-sharing, Partitioning, and the Fight Against ISIS

President Barack Obama is meeting today with his National Security Council at CIA headquarters to discuss efforts to combat the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL). This comes as the administration debates ways to fight recent ISIS gains. On the table: an increase in the number of U.S. special operations forces in Syria.

Also today, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime is holding parliamentary elections in areas under governmental control, mostly in the west of the country. The regime claims this is in line with the constitution, which calls for parliamentary elections every four years. Opposition leaders say the move is an attempt to forestall pressure from the international community ahead of another round of peace talks, scheduled to begin today (although the government has said it will not send its delegation to Geneva until tomorrow).

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