An in-depth examination of the United States' indirect intervention into the Syrian war on two fronts: the covert CIA-led campaign against the Bashar al-Assad regime and the overt, Pentagon-led military operation against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq & Syria (ISIS).
Matthew Ayton offers new insights into a dimension of US policy in Syria that has so far been given little analytical attention; the employment of what American strategists called the 'by, with & through approach' to ground warfare. This saw the US provide weaponry and training to non-state militias in an attempt to achieve strategic objectives without deploying large numbers of troops, in order to reduce blood-and-treasure costs, following the costly post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Drawing on a wealth of original interviews with American national security officials and the Syrians who worked with them on the ground, this book shows that despite being presented as a cost-saving panacea to intervention, this strategy came with significant - costly - and even deadly - consequences.

- 297 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF
The United States’ Proxy War in Syria
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Series Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Map
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: US foreign policy and the Middle East under Obama and Trump
- Chapter 2: The ‘By, With & Through’ approach
- Chapter 3: The early Syrian uprising and the American response (2011–12)
- Chapter 4: Fighting Bashar al-Assad ‘By, With & Through’ the free Syrian army
- Chapter 5: Fighting ISIS ‘By, With & Through’: The train and equip programme
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
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Yes, you can access The United States’ Proxy War in Syria by Matthew Ayton in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & Geopolitics. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.