Frederic C. Hof
Newlines Magazine
Washington, DC, United States
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Past articles by Frederic:
People-Driven Policy in the Middle East
A Middle East ruled illegitimately by the criminally violent will always produce security threats to Americans, especially if the U.S. government is seen in the region as consorting with the enemy. → Read More
Annex the Golan, Make Assad’s Day
A new flurry of reports suggesting Israel may formally annex the occupied Golan Heights is music to the ears of Bashar al-Assad, a mass murderer who would welcome a decisive change of subject from his own criminality to what he will characterize as... → Read More
Frederic C. Hof
Frederic C. Hof is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. He is a former special advisor for transition in Syria at the U.S. State Department. → Read More
Assad Defies Another American President
The Syrian strongman saw the red line on sarin as a green light to do everything else. → Read More
Syria’s Assad May Have Just Pushed Trump to a Chemical Red Line
In his crudely cynical manner, Bashar al-Assad may be banking on US President Donald J. Trump’s recent public statements about wanting to be out of Syria quickly. → Read More
America Is Teaching Syria a Dangerous Lesson
Bashar al-Assad seems to have gotten the message that he can do whatever he wants short of using sarin gas. → Read More
Assad and Legitimacy
During the Obama administration, one of the many public throw-away lines designed to paper-over an adamant refusal to protect civilians from a homicidal regime was that the President of Syria—Bashar al-Assad—“lacked all legitimacy.” Russia, on the... → Read More
Killing the Nuke Deal Won’t Stop Iran’s Domination
Trump cannot both oppose Iranian regional domination and resign himself to Assad remaining in Syria. → Read More
The Revolution in Syria Against Assad Has Failed. For Now
Assad, Putin and the Iranians backed the winner. The US left the losers to fight for themselves. → Read More
What’s the U.S. Plan for Post-ISIS Syria? Let Them Fight Among Themselves
Imagine if, in 1945, the War Department and senior American commanders in Europe and Asia had been permitted to define victory simply as the fall of Berlin and Tokyo, with no post-combat stabilization and reconstruction program for either Germany or Japan. Imagine if, in 2003, the United States had invaded Iraq without a realistic, implementable plan for governance after the fall of Baghdad and… → Read More
Why the Syria Ceasefire Suits Both Putin and Trump
Trump should tell Putin he reserves the right to respond militarily to any Assad act of civilian slaughter. → Read More
Will Trump and Putin’s Ceasefire in South-West Syria Work?
It would be good news for civilians who have been barrel bombed by Assad’s forces. → Read More
Syria: The Operation Was Successful But the Patient Died
The beneficiaries of America’s “degrade and destroy” strategy will be Iran and Assad. → Read More
Assad Dodges Trump’s Chemical Weapons Ban
So long as he is not using chemical weapons, America won’t intervene. → Read More
In Syria, Trump is Letting Iran and Assad Win
Is the United States “in the killing-ISIS business” for the benefit of Iran and Assad? → Read More
What’s Trump’s Syria Plan Once ISIS Is Defeated?
Unlike Obama, Trump chose not to look the other way as Assad slaughtered his own people. → Read More
Has Assad’s Free Ride to Commit Mass Murder Just Ended?
Or will the U.S. military strikes go down in history as a useless, empty gesture? → Read More
Are Trump and Tillerson Letting Syria’s Assad Off the Hook?
The administration understands Bashar al-Assad’s utter subordination to Iran for the sake of Hezbollah. → Read More
Russia and Iran Are Scrapping Over Assad’s Corpse. Where’s Trump?
Russia in Syria is a treatable illness; Iran in Syria is sure death. → Read More
Trump Needs to Run a Tight Foreign Policy Ship
Obama’s bad leadership and management practices have made matters worse, the author writes. → Read More