STEVE ROYSTON: The situation in Syria is so desperate, so serious and so wide-ranging that it has the potential to affect every individual living in the region
DANIEL M. VARISCO: For George W. Bush the phrase was ‘Mission Accomplished’. For his successor there could be another phrase that defines his foreign affair policy
JUAN COLE: Bill Clinton has criticised President Obama for not providing stronger military support for the Syrian opposition. His own record on military intervention isn’t so good.
RAMZY BAROUD: Any possibility of a Pan Arab national identity is being destroyed each day that people are being butchered in the name of a particular sect
PHILIP WEISS, CGNEWS: Josh Landis’s marriage to a Syrian Alawite was judged fair game in a discussion on his views on the political situation. Why only him?
'Confused’ may be an appropriate term to describe Turkey’s current foreign policy in the Middle East and Israel in particular. The source of that confusion - aside from the appalling violence in Syria and earlier in Libya – is Turkey’s own mistakes.
RAMZY BAROUD: Turkey’s attempt to re-position itself as a fulcrum between East and West has come unstuck…
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has got itself into the confused position of fighting Sunni fighters in Iraq, but supporting some of them in Syria.
FRANCIS MATTHEW: The CIA is in the position of fighting Sunni fighters in Iraq, but supporting them in Syria.
JAMES M DORSEY: There appears to be a concerted plan by the Egyptian judiciary and security forces to confront militant football fans. It may, though, backfire.
It has been called a sniper's war, as fighters look for their enemy from rooftops, from behind the cover of fragile walls, through dug-out holes, and down telescopic sights.
Abu Jaffar has now recovered from his injuries and is now the leader of a small brigade in Aleppo city. The experience brought the two together, and a few months later they were married – on the frontline.
FRANCIS MATTHEW: The problem with this approach is that by going gently, it allows Al Assad to think that he might still win by fighting. And it also places a huge strain on the opposition not ready to fight a long war of attrition.
MICH CAFE: They met, fell in love and got married. A simple story but not so simple when you’re on two sides of a sectarian divide in the midst of a civil war