Trump cedes Syrian postwar planning to Putin Experts and U.S. officials say the real fight now is about a regional power struggle playing out in the country. By MICHAEL CROWLEY | 11/21/2017 06:53 PM EST Six months after President Donald Trump ordered an airstrike against a Syrian government airbase, an act his aides said would give the U.S. renewed leverage across the Middle East, he is increasingly a bystander as Russian President Vladimir Putin takes the lead in shaping postwar Syria.
On Wednesday, Putin will host the presidents of Iran and Turkey in the resort city of Sochi — one of several Russian-brokered meetings the U.S. will not attend as the Syrian conflict winds down.
With rebel fighters largely routed and the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, driven from most of Syria’s territory, experts and U.S. officials say the real fight now is about a regional power struggle playing out in the country.
The Sochi summit follows a surprise Tuesday meeting between Putin and Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has survived a 6½-year civil war thanks largely to Russian support. Putin called Trump on Tuesday to brief him on his talks with the Syrian dictator.
“Putin has won” in Syria, said Ilan Goldenberg, who worked on Middle East issues at the Pentagon and State Department under President Barack Obama. “That’s partly Obama’s fault — and partly Trump’s fault.”
<..snip..>
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/21/trump-putin-russia-syria-257407?lo=ap_f1
