Barak Barfi on the Syria crisis

World Today

FILE – In this June 17, 2015 file photo, smoke and explosions from fighting between forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad and rebels in the Quneitra area of Syria are seen from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The Russian military intervention to prop up the Syrian government has put new scrutiny on the CIA’s secret support to Syrian rebels fighting Bashar Assad, raising questions about how far the U.S. is willing to go in empowering its proxies to take on Vladimir Putin’s allies. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit, File)

Moscow and Washington are stepping up their roles in Syria and neither side likes what the other is doing. So could this turn into a ‘proxy war’ between the U.S. and Russia. For more on the Syria crisis, CCTV America’s Elaine Reyes spoke to research fellow Barak Barfi of the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank in the U.S.