The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East

The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East

by Christopher Phillips

Overview


An unprecedented analysis of the crucial but underexplored roles the United States and other nations have played in shaping Syria’s ongoing civil war

Most accounts of Syria’s brutal, long-lasting civil war focus on a domestic contest that began in 2011 and only later drew foreign nations into the escalating violence. Christopher Phillips argues instead that the international dimension was never secondary but that Syria’s war was, from the very start, profoundly influenced by regional factors, particularly the vacuum created by a perceived decline of U.S. power in the Middle East. This precipitated a new regional order in which six external protagonists—the United States, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar—have violently competed for influence, with Syria a key battleground. 

Drawing on a plethora of original interviews, Phillips constructs a new narrative of Syria’s war. Without absolving the brutal Bashar al-Assad regime, the author untangles the key external factors which explain the acceleration and endurance of the conflict, including the West’s strategy against ISIS. He concludes with some insights on Syria and the region's future.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780300217179
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication date: 10/25/2016
Pages: 320
Product dimensions: 6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author


Christopher Phillips is senior lecturer, International Relations of the Middle East, Queen Mary University of London, and associate fellow, Chatham House Middle East and North Africa Programme, where he founded the Syria and Its Neighbours Policy Initiative. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

Preface to the revised and updated edition vii

Acknowledgements x

List of key actors and abbreviations xii

Map of Syria xviii-xix

Introduction 1

1 Syria and the Middle East on the eve of civil war 10

2 The Arab Spring comes to Syria 40

3 Assad must stand aside? The international community's ambivalent response 59

4 International institutions and the slide to war 83

5 A legitimate representative? Supporting and subverting Syria's political opposition 105

6 'Arm the rebels!' Backing the armed opposition 125

7 To the hilt: Assad's allies dig in 147

8 No red lines: The question of Western military intervention 168

9 Descent into chaos: Stalemate and the rise of ISIS 189

10 Enter Russia: Putin raises the stakes 213

11 The wild card: Syria's war in the age of Trump 232

12 Conquest: Defeat for ISIS, Afrin and the rebels 254

13 Rebuilding without reconciling 278

Conclusion: The war that everyone lost 304

Notes 313

Bibliography 356

Index 382

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