Syria

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In this Friday, Sept. 26, 2014 photo, released by the U.S. Air Force, a U.S Air Force KC-10 Extender refuels an F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft prior to strike operations in Syria. The F-22s, making their combat debut, were part of a strike package that was engaging Islamic State group targets in Syria. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force, Russ Scalf )

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Motaz Alafandi of Syria sits in his car after giving an interview on his pending case for political asylum, Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, in Garland, Texas. Alafandi, 49, lives in Dallas while seeking asylum with his wife and three youngest children, ages 14, 11 and 5. "I wish that Mr. President (Trump) can help in stopping the war in Syria," said Alafandi, who said he loves the U.S. and the American people but does hope to return one day to his homeland. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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Motaz Alafandi of Syria shows a photo he keeps on his smart phone of his daughter Yara, 18, who lives in Montreal, Friday, Jan. 27, 2017, in Garland, Texas. Alafandi, a 49-year-old Syrian lives in Dallas while seeking asylum with his wife and three youngest children, ages 14, 11 and 5. "I wish that Mr. President (Trump) can help in stopping the war in Syria," said Alafandi, who said he loves the U.S. and the American people but does hope to return one day to his homeland. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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This photo provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service shows Russian air force Tu-22M3 bombers strike the Islamic State group targets in Syria on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. The mission, the third such bombing raid in four days, targeted the Islamic State group around Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria where the Islamic State group has launched an offensive against Syrian government forces. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service Photo via AP)

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Bashar Jaafari, Syrian Ambassador to the UN and head of the Syrian delegation, right, speaks to a member of Syrian delegation during the talks on Syrian peace in Astana, Kazakhstan, Monday, Jan. 23, 2017. Syria talks brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran aimed at bolstering a shaky cease-fire in place since last month opened on Monday in Kazakhstan, marking the first face-to-face meeting between the Damascus government representatives and rebel factions trying to overthrow it. The gathering is also the start of a new effort to end six years of carnage that has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced half of Syria’s population and sent millions of refugees to neighboring countries and Europe. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

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Residents walk through the destruction of the once rebel-held Salaheddine neighborhood in eastern Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017. Last month, government forces captured all parts of eastern Aleppo, brining Syria's largest city to full control of Syrian authorities for the first time since July 2012. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

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Residents walk through the destruction of the once rebel-held Salaheddine neighborhood in the eastern Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017. Last month, government forces captured all parts of eastern Aleppo, brining Syria's largest city to full control of Syrian authorities for the first time since July 2012. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

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FILE - This file frame grab from video provided on Sunday, Dec. 25, 2016 by Step News Agency, a Syrian opposition media outlet that is consistent with independent AP reporting, shows smoke rise from the government forces shelling on Wadi Barada, northwest of Damascus, Syria. Opposition activists and Syria's state TV said on Friday, Jan. 13, 2017 that maintenance workers have arrived in the rebel-held valley near Damascus to fix the water facility there, ending a violent standoff that has dried out the capital for weeks. (Step News Agency, via AP, File)

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Little attention has been paid to Secretary of State John F. Kerry's discussion about a strategy to use the Islamic State's growing presence in Syria and Iraq as leverage to pressure Bashar Assad.

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This undated handout photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry claims to show a Russian Military engineer distributing juice to local children in Aleppo, Syria.(Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)

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This undated handout photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry claims to show Russian Military engineers driving in their APCs to operate in Aleppo, Syria.(Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)

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This undated handout photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry claims to show a Russian Military engineer operating in Aleppo, Syria.(Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)

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This undated handout photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry claims to show Russian Military engineers operating in Aleppo, Syria.(Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)

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This undated handout photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry claims to show Russian Military engineers operating in Aleppo, Syria.(Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)

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FILE -- In this Oct. 20, 2015 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Syria President Bashar Assad arrive for their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. With his victory in Aleppo, Assad appears to have survived a nearly six-year war to drive him from power, but he is now more dependent on outside powers than ever. His key allies Russia and Iran, along with Turkey, are best placed to determine Syria’s endgame, which could more closely resemble a grand bargain among great powers than a political settlement among Syrians themselves. (Alexei Druzhinin, RIA-Novosti, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

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Illustration on Iran's future role in Syria by Linas Garsys/The Washington Times

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Building a Confederation in Syria Illustration by Greg Groesch/The Washington Times

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FILE - In this file image made from video posted online on Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016 by Qasioun News Agency, Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces patrol in Dabiq, Syria. Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces have captured the symbolically significant town of Dabiq from the Islamic State group, the factions said Sunday morning. Simultaneous attacks on the Islamic State-held city of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa, the de facto IS capital across the border in eastern Syria, would make military sense: They would make it harder for the extremists to move reinforcements and deny them a safe haven. (Qasioun News Agency via AP, File)

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FILE - This Sept. 1, 2016 file photo provided by the Syria Press Center (SPC), an anti-government media group, shows rescue workers using a bulldozer to remove a burned van after airstrikes that killed a dozen people west of the town of Suran in Hama province, Syria. Infighting among some insurgent groups in Syria is severely hampering an offensive that many activists had hoped would cut government supply lines to Aleppo and ease the pressure on that embattled northern city. A Syrian cabinet minister, Ali Haidar, told The Associated Press in Damascus on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2016, that Hama was the “safety valve which the gunmen tried to open to alleviate pressure on Aleppo.” (Syria Press Center via AP, File)

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In this still image taken from video footage provided by the Daret Izza Media Office, an anti-government activist group, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a big blast is seen at the edge of the city accompanied by a large plume of smoke and debris rising from the skyline, Daret Izza, Syria, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016. Activists say the explosion was caused by a thermobaric rocket launched by forces loyal to the Syrian government. (Daret Izza Media Office via AP)