The Syrian Civil War

Syria's government has won the civil war in part because of Iran's help. To win the peace, however, it'll need aid from elsewhere.

Al-Baghdadi's death will not significantly weaken the wider capabilities of the Islamic State or its affiliates.

Moscow and Ankara are most pleased by their new deal on northern Syria; the rest of the area's actors aren't.

Washington and Ankara's deal to temporarily halt the fighting in northeastern Syria provides more questions than answers, suggesting the truce is unlikely to endure.

If Israeli forces were responsible, it would fit into a pattern of a more robust and increasingly expansive effort by Israel against Iran and its allies.

With Washington's hasty retreat from northern Syria upending the regional balance, Turkish and Syrian forces could soon come to blows.

The countries' air defenses are ill-equipped to stop Israeli strikes on their soil. Improving their capabilities, however, might open a whole new can of worms.

Ankara has long sought to establish a buffer zone to protect Turkey from the effects of the Syrian civil war, but as the Turkish government finally gets closer to getting what it wants, its aspirations will crash into geopolitical reality.