Feb. 11, 2016

• Russian Intervention in Syrian War Has Sharply Reduced U.S. Options – David E. Sanger
  For months, the U.S. has insisted there can be no military solution to the Syrian civil war, only a political accord. But after days of intense bombing that could soon put the city of Aleppo back into the hands of Assad’s forces, the Russians may be proving the U.S. wrong. There may be a military solution, one senior American official concededWednesday, “just not our solution.”
  The Russian military action has changed the shape of a conflict that had effectively been stalemated for years. Suddenly, Assad and his allies have momentum, and the U.S.-backed rebels are on the run. (New York Times)
• See also Will Russian Victories in Syria Spark a Regional War?– Yaroslav Trofimov
  While Russia is achieving strategic victories in Syria with this month’s Aleppo offensive, few expect that Moscow’s main target – the moderate rebels backed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the U.S. – would now be forced settle the conflict on the Kremlin’s and Syrian President Assad’s terms. “Their victory in Aleppo is not the end of the war. It’s the beginning of a new war,” said Moncef Marzouki, who served in 2011-14 as the president of Tunisia. Neither Turkey nor Saudi Arabia can afford to have the rebel cause, in which they have invested so much, wiped out by Moscow and its Iranian allies. (Wall Street Journal)