This article deals with the Trump v Democrats civil war over foreign policy but it does mention Syria. Pressure is being applied to force Trump to take a more aggressive approach.
"In relation to foreign policy, bound up with the demand for more aggressive action against Russia is the concern that Trump is insufficiently committed to the seven-year-old campaign for regime-change in Syria.
In an op-ed last week, “Is Trump handing Putin a victory in Syria?” Washington Post columnist David Ignatius declared, “The catastrophic war in Syria is nearing what could be a diplomatic endgame, as the United States, Russia and Israel shape a deal that would preserve power for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in exchange for Russian pledges to restrain Iranian influence.”
Sections of the foreign policy establishment are speaking in particularly blunt terms of the failure of US efforts to confront Russia in Syria and Ukraine. The events of recent years have shown that “The United States cannot coerce Russia into doing its will,” wrote Michael Kimmage in Foreign Affairs. “In Ukraine and Syria, Washington has attempted to isolate Russia, hoping that Putin will meet US demands so he can come in from the cold… So far, coercion and isolation have both failed.”
However, the factions of the state intelligence apparatus for which the Democrats speak see these setbacks to the United States’ foreign policy as an argument for doubling down. In another article in ForeignAffairs, “Don’t Get Out of Syria,” Jennifer Cafarella, of the Institute for the Study of War, argues that the United States must redouble its efforts if it is to maintain a toehold in the country.
Cafarella warns, “The south [of Syria] will likely fall to forces allied with the regime unless the United States acts immediately.” She advises the US to “invest now in building leverage for future decisive action by strengthening the military and governance capabilities of its partners on the ground, regaining the trust of Syria’s rebelling population, rebuilding rebel forces, and denying Assad the international legitimacy he so desperately craves.”
