The Heat: US involvement in Syria

The Heat

The Heat: US involvement in SyriaWill the United States send troops to Syria? And will the U.S. and Syria work together to fight against the Islamic State?

Will the United States send troops to Syria? And will the U.S. and Syria work together to fight against the Islamic State?

The United Nations says more than 191,000 people have died in Syria’s three-year civil war. U.N. statistics show the economy has effectively collapsed.

More than half the population lives in extreme poverty, and more than half the nation’s children no longer attend school. Nearly half the country’s hospitals have shut down. And then came the Islamic State, which has been seizing control over certain parts of Syria.

To defeat the Islamic State, Syria’s foreign minister says his government is ready to work with the United States, one of the Assad government’s harshest critics.
Will Barack Obama and Bashar al-Assad put aside their differences to defeat the Islamic State? And what will happen to Syria if they don’t?

This past week, the Islamic State has seized control of at least three Syrian military airbases. This further solidifies its control of northern and eastern Syria. There’s now increasing pressure on the U.S. to send troops to Syria to help fight the Islamic State.

Correspondent Alaa Ebrahim reports from Damascus.

To discuss the humanitarian and political crisis in Syria we were joined by journalist Afshin Rattansi and Bassam Abu Abdullah, a director of the center of Strategic Studies at the Damascus University and Paul Salem from the Middle East Institute.