Iran Involvement in Syria Talks Reflects Russia’s Growing Influence

Nations have taken sides in Syria’s civil war: The United States and Saudi Arabia support rebels striving to topple Syria’s ruler, while Russia and Iran support the Assad regime. Since Russia’s entry in September, the rebel forces have been pushed back; Turkey, fearing autonomy for the Kurds, attacks forces that have fought fiercely against Islamic State extremists. Diplomatic talks start today. “Iran has long been considered the missing piece in the Syrian diplomatic puzzle,” writes Michael Pizzi for Al Jazeera. “Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, sent by the international community to broker a truce in 2012, warned at the time that excluding Iran would doom talks to failure.” The diplomatic talks in Vienna won’t include Syria’s political opposition. As many as 300,000 Syrians have died, and millions of refugees have fled. Pizzi describes the war at a stalemate. Failure to end the war likely means more extremism and destabilization spreading in the region. – YaleGlobal