INTERVIEW – JONATHAN SCHANZER – scholar in Middle Eastern studies, and senior vice president at Foundation for Defense of Democracies – discussed President Trump’s condemnation of the Syrian government’s continued use of chemical weapons on its own civilians and discussed his own article on Putin’s Middle East blunders

• How Putin’s Folly Could Lead to a Middle East War (Politico) — Russia’s intervention in Syria has brought the region to the brink of disaster. Donald Trump needs to stop prevaricating over Syria and take advantage of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Syria failures. Putin, who unexpectedly thrust Russia into the Syria civil war in September 2015, initially claimed he was there on a counterterrorism mission to fight the Islamic State. Fast-forward two and a half years, and Putin is now in the unlikely position of trying to contain the outbreak of what could be the ugliest Middle East war of the 21st century between Iran and Israel. It was all very predictable, the moment that Putin began to partner with Iran and its lethal proxy, Hezbollah. They shared intelligence, patrolled together and fought together against the Sunni jihadists and other rebels who were warring against the Assad regime. Iran’s motivations for this unlikely marriage were crystal clear: the regime viewed Syria as a crucial territory to maintain a land bridge from their borders to the Mediterranean. For Iran, Syria was key to regional domination. It was also key to maintaining military supply routes to Hezbollah in Lebanon.