The withdrawal of American troops late last year was premature, with fighting intensifying in Idlib province, say Charles A Kupchan and Sinan Ülgen

As Israeli politics shift rightward, It is time for a paradigm shift in how we think about the Middle East, writes Richard N Haass.

With the UK’s departure, Europeans will lose an economic and military powerhouse, a move symptomatic of our wider loss of influence and relevance, says Sigmar Gabriel.

Irish soldiers could be deployed in war-torn Syria before the end of the year, even though the country has become the centre of a new Cold War-era battle between Russia, the US, Britain, France, and their proxy allies.

Russia has forces in Syria to show the world that it is still an influence, but any losses can be attributed to ‘private operators’, says Nina L. Khrushcheva

America’s failure to commit resources has enabled a multiplicity of players — Iran, Russia, Islamic State, Hezbollah — to muddy the bloody waters of the civil war, says Christopher R. Hill

Despite their difference Iran and Russia are both becoming big players in the Middle

French president Emmanuel Macron is using instability in the Middle East to cast himself in the role of honest broker and position France as Europe’s top player, says Maysam Behravesh.

Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk (12A) is an epic tale of the greatest mass rescue of World War II, when 400,000 men of the British Expeditionary Force were left stranded and undefended on Dunkirk beach as the German army closed in for the kill.

‘Russian hackers’ are blamed for everything, the latest being breaching Qatar’s news agency, sparking a row with the Saudis. This makes no sense, says Leonid Bershidsky.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán has pursued control by varied and ruthless means — breaching EU law and his citizens’ rights. EU states have to do more than finger wag, writes Guy Verhofstadt

The president has discarded the US’s traditional foreign policy by antagonising allies, cosying up to enemies, and then flip-flopping on a whim, writes John Lloyd.

In its first 100 days, the Trump White House has done better than many expected in handling some crises and the strategic signals it projects to the world, says Peter Apps

America’s global re-engagement should be welcomed, but not through a military lens. Diplomacy, not fighting, brings peace, says Carl Bildt.

ANY book written about the Syrian civil war can only, sadly, be a a sad book. And this book is no exception.

America’s limited intervention won’t change the course of the Syrian war or temper Bashar al-Assad’s scorched earth policy against rebels and civilians, writes Mohamad Bazzi.

Evidence suggests Assad was behind this week’s chemical weapons attack. Leaders are saying it is a redline issue but Western powers are at a loss to respond, says Peter Apps

THE UN is in danger of becoming as irrelevant and ineffectual as the League of Nations that preceded it — able to condemn atrocities but not halt them. The chemical attack in Syria, most likely by government forces, is the most recent example.

While most of the world has agreed to destroy these deadly weapons, the attack in Syria this week shows the urgency of the situation, writes Caroline Alexander

A suspected government chemical attack in an opposition-held town in northern Syria has killed dozens of people.

The relationship between the US president and the Russian leader could suffer as they begin to deal with some of the more pressing issues, writes Josh Cohen.

When dealing with the conflict in Syria and other areas, US policy has largely been ineffectual. It needs to do more than just express moral outrage, says Christopher R Hill.

Your letters, your views.

ANYONE who thinks the election of Donald Trump is a bit of a laugh should think again. 

After a week of horrific deaths in Syria, greater US military action may look like an obvious solution but it could only make matters worse, says Peter Apps.

The US president has been condemned for not intervening early and removing the Assad regime, but such military action was disastrous in Iraq and Libya, says Christopher R Hill     

The older brother of a Syrian boy whose image, dazed and bloodied after an air strike, shocked people around the world, has died in Aleppo from wounds sustained in the same incident, a war monitor, a local council official and a witness said.

The American military and industrial complex needs a new enemy to justify its massive budget and Vladimir Putin is the right person at the right time, argues Peter Van Buren.

A Russian transport helicopter was shot down in opposition rebel territory in northern Syria yesterday and all five crew and officers onboard were killed, the Kremlin said. 

Hundreds of thousands of people ‘effectively under siege’

The ceasefire in Aleppo could prove to be a real turning point in the Syrian conflict, and what happens in the city could be seen as setting the tone for the rest of the country, says Peter Apps

Given the disintegration of Syria and the consequent presence of Islamic terrorists within a day’s drive, is it any wonder that israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has categorically stated that “the Golan Heights will forever remain in Israeli hands” (World News,18 April)?

Syrian government negotiators at Geneva peace talks are coming under unaccustomed pressure to discuss something far outside their comfort zone: The fate of president Bashar al-Assad. And they are doing their best to avoid it.

The Syrian opposition said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move to draw down his forces in their country could pave the way for an end to five years of fighting, although they said Moscow had not informed them of the decision.

Vladimir Putin’s decision to withdraw his forces from Syria puts Russia in a powerful position as negotiations on the future of the war-torn country get under way, writes Mark Galeotti