All Policy Analysis by Andrew J. Tabler

Kathy Gilsinan interviewed Andrew J. Tabler on what an Assad victory would mean for the war and the West. The full text of the article, including graphics, is available on the Atlantic website. Kathy Gilsinan: I wanted to start with what the significance of Aleppo has been to the Syrian

Pushing the Syrian opposition to the negotiating table while the regime's onslaught continues will only worsen the situation, so Washington should press Russia for a true ceasefire if it wants the talks to produce actual progress.

Recent talks have yielded encouraging dialogue and a plan, but the sticky challenge of Assad’s fate remains.

Unless the United States quickly establishes a mechanism for Bashar al-Assad's departure, the Islamic State and similar groups will remain potent regional actors.

For all the sound principles laid out in Vienna, future talks cannot evade the timeline and mechanism of a transition in Syria, and Russia needs to prove its goodwill on the ground.

Russia has greatly complicated an already-fraught situation by picking a fight with Syria's majority Sunni rebels and tripping into other regional players' spheres of influence.

The following summary of the Syrian conflict by Andrew J. Tabler appeared as a sidebar to the October Atlantic Monthly article, " The Syrian Civil War: What?" The Syrian Civil War is arguably the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War, with over a quarter million killed, roughly the

Sustaining U.S. and Turkish assistance to the Syrian Kurds is crucial to blocking ISIS and stemming Russian influence, as is resolving Ankara's Kurdish problems at home, but sending heavy weapons to the PYD would likely have unintended consequences.

As Russia, Iran, and Assad fight to carve out their future spheres of influence in Syria, Washington needs to help its Sunni allies establish their own spheres and retake eastern territory from ISIS and al-Qaeda.

Following Vladimir Putin's address to the UN General Assembly, a panel of Institute experts detailed the scope of Moscow's military buildup in Syria and its likely objectives and implications.