Not so long ago, US policy on Syria was simple, “Assad must go.” Now it’s, “If you’re going to normalize, get something for it.” At least, that’s how Al Monitor, in a report posted yesterday, interprets recent comments made by Barbara Leaf, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. “Our basic message has been [that] if you’re going to engage with the [Assad] regime, get something for that,” she told an Al Monitor event on March 9. She repeated that message to reporters last week, adding that the “US’s own approach to Syria is unchanged.”
An Arab diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al-Monitor: “What we are reading from what the Americans are saying is, ‘we are not against the initiatives you are doing, but the [US] sanctions will stay. What we have seen is, let the Arabs try [outreach to Assad], and let us see what the results are.”
Minimally, the State Department message, via Leaf, is that the US does see the breakout of Syria’s neighbors from the US policy line — which caught the US unprepared — and the US is not presently trying to punish you. But, also, it is not clear the State Department has any choice at this point.
