A nation must think before it acts.
Senior Fellow Brandon Friedman Quoted in The Media Line on Syria
“The incident underlines the inherent combustibility of the situation in Syria, but there does seem to be a will on the part of the Americans and Russians to prevent direct confrontation,” Dr. Brandon Friedman, a Research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, told The Media Line. “However, there are so many parties involved in so many different areas that things can very quickly spiral out of control.”
Dr. Friedman believes the crisis has persisted because of the associated diplomatic intricacies. “In order to arrive at a resolution, there needs to be understandings achieved on three separate levels. First, there has to be an agreement between the Americans and the Russians and even this would have huge political ramifications that extend well beyond Syria.
“Russia and the U.S. would then have to impose these conditions on regional parties,” he expounded, “including on Iran, Turkey, probably Israel at this point and perhaps even Saudi Arabia. This would then have to trickle down to the local players—the Kurds, the Syrian opposition and even regime forces.”