The United States is implementing such extreme policies in Syria that it is destroying what little hope remains for a better future for the country.

President Donald Trump is leading the charge, despite his false claims about distancing the United States from Syria. The president is backing a repressive ruler who once fought for al-Qaeda, betraying Kurdish allies who have been trying to create a more inclusive society, and relying on Russia to deter Turkey and Israel from going to war over Syrian territory.

Lawmakers and foreign policy experts are well aware of the president’s actions, reviewing them during a congressional hearing earlier this year, but they are doing little other than acknowledging that the country is enduring great hardship.

“The humanitarian situation there is almost mind-boggling,” Mara Karlin, a former Defense Department official, told Congress.

Over a decade of civil war has devastated Syria. An estimated 90 percent of Syrians are living in poverty, and millions of people require assistance to survive.

Since his return to power, President Trump has shown little concern for the humanitarian crisis, however, focusing instead on how to implement policies so extreme that they would have once been considered shocking.

For starters, President Trump is supporting Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former member of al-Qaeda who is now the country’s president. Although al-Sharaa has previously been designated as a terrorist by the United States and security forces under his control have committed massacres against minority groups, President Trump has openly embraced the Syrian leader, even welcoming him to the White House in........

© Eurasia Review