State Department spokesman Vedant Patel lashed out at Arab normalization with Syria, yesterday, in response to questions from reporters. “We will not normalize relations with the Assad regime absent authentic progress towards a political solution to the underlying conflict,” he said. In State Department-speak, “a political solution” means some kind of regime change. “We continue to make this clear publicly and privately with our partners. And we have stressed to regional partners who are engaging with the Syrian regime that any credible step to improve the humanitarian and security situation for Syrians should be front and center in any engagement.”