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| Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Syria Staffan de Mistura and US Secretary of State John Kerry address news conference following Syria talks in Vienna, 30 October 2015 (US Department of State). Everyone seems to be looking on a different direction in Syria. |
Note: the purpose of the Strategic Notes on Syria series is to convey semi-independent thoughts concerning the Syrian civil war and the Islamic State. Given both the magnitude and the dynamism of what is currently happening in Syria, it would be impossible to treat the issue on a single post. Therefore, each note will deal with an specific part of the crisis. Nonetheless, all shall be related as pieces of an strategic approach towards Syria.
The 13 November attacks in and near Paris have created a new sense of urgency amongst Western countries to destroy ISIS once and for all; a sense of urgency that is even higher than during this summer's Refugee crisis (which is still ongoing, by the way). It is this urgency that is forcing Western governments to ask themselves the difficult questions which arise when confronting the extremely difficult reality on the ground in Syria.