The United States and some international partners are pressuring Damascus through the UN and other channels as the Assad regime crackdown on protesters intensifies. Expert opinion remains mixed on whether the Syrian government can be weakened.

Elliott Abrams says that civil war in Syria can be avoided if the "Assad mafia" can be separated from much of its own sectarian support.

Elliott Abrams poses ten questions that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee should be asking Robert Ford before confirming him as ambassador to Syria.

A potential civil war in Syria, a broken state in Libya, and Egypt's transition of power loom as chief Mideast challenges for Washington. CFR's Robert Danin reviews the path for U.S. planners.

A crackdown in Hama and Amnesty International's call for reporting Syria's government to the ICC place new focus on the Assad regime's stability, yet international response has been muted.

Richard N. Haass says the Arab Spring has given way to a series of developments that are beginning to produce a region that is less tolerant, less prosperous, and less stable that what existed - and outsiders cannot do much to change the course of events.

Elliott Abrams criticizes the Obama administration's policy toward the uprising in Syria and calls on Secretary Clinton and the administration to step up their pressure on the Assad regime.

As Syrian dissidents try to end the current violence, there is mounting concern over the consequences of growing unrest in a region already roiling with protest.

Amb. Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations, discusses democracy promotion in the Middle East following the Arab Spring with Mark Lagon, Adjunct Senior Fellow for Human Rights at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Syria's Assad dynasty appears to be on a long path to collapse, posing new challenges to the Obama administration's efforts to break the axis of Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah, says expert Andrew Tabler.

The Syrian regime's intensifying crackdown on protesters has alarmed some countries in the region and stirred international concern, but there is little consensus about how to curb the violence and little appetite for military intervention.

The New Yorker's Steve Coll looks at the past decade of oppressive rule by the Assad regime and argues that the time for Washington to negotiate has passed.

Elliott Abrams warns against U.S. engagement with Syria.

Time's correspondent in Syria writes that recent U.S. sanctions imposed on Assad and his regime have done little to stop him from using violence against the Syrian people.

Elliott Abrams says that while President Obama had some fine language in his speech on the Middle East, his points on the Arab Spring and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were wrong.

Anthony Shadid of the New York Times offers a picture of what life may be like for Israel if pressure continues on Bashar al-Assad to step down.

In Foreign Policy, Aaron David Miller argues that the Obama Administration belives Syria's repressive dictatorship is so crucial to Mideast peace and stability that the United States can't let it fail.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, Former Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department discusses the actions taken by international actors in Libya, and why the same measures cannot be taken in Syria. Slaughter called the situation in Syria "heartbreaking" and said "it looks like in many ways it looks like this government might get away with the same kind of brutality that we saw 20 years ago." However, she argued that while the U.S. is doing everything in its power diplomatically, it is not in a position to use force in Syria.

Elliott Abrams says that as the Assad regime kills more peaceful demonstrators, U.S. policy in Syria becomes increasingly difficult to comprehend.