International Crises

Syria said its military seized a key town that served as a rebel supply hub on the Lebanese border on Sunday after a months-long army offensive. Activists said fighting was still ongoing but the government was in effective control of much of Yabroud, thanks to Hezbollah's assistance.

Julie Lenarz, Michael Miner, The National Interest

The unrest in Syria has quickly spiraled beyond a sectarian civil war and into a regional crisis. Two million refugees have poured into Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey at a rate surpassing several thousand a day, with more than 6.5 million displaced overall. Iran and Saudi Arabia are doing battle through proxy forces.

Let’s turn now to a few of the discrete decision points enumerated above, and try to make our way through the policy thickets. Despite the interconnectedness of much of the portfolio, we’re going to take the topics one by one, and do our knitting as the need arises.