Damascus Spring

In the past 3 years the current U.S administration has opted to follow a policy of disengagement and isolation with the Syrian regime. Today this policy continues to be the cornerstone of the Bush administration, yet developments on the ground are proving it fruitless. This administration must open the way to the next one and lay down the ground work for a new foreign policy towards Syria that will be pivotal in securing U.S interests and restoring some of the U.S influence lost in the region since the start of the Iraq war. Syria is begging for Washington’s attention, The White House ought to listen. Background Following the assassination of the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, the U.S pulled its ambassador out of Damascus and worked tirelessly to isolate the regime regionally and internationally. U.S demands were simple and direct, stop the flow of jihadists and foreign fighters into Iraq, stop the support of terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic