military strike outweigh any advantages. i don't think that an american military strike or strikes would make a critical difference. in fact most probably it would exacerbate an already complex situation. quickly. it would deepen the involvement of regional powers in the syrian conflict. this is not just a conflict between assad and the opposition, this is a regional conflict. you have two camps. turkey, saudi arabia and qatar and you have iran, syria, hezbollah and to a lesser extent iraq. you're going to see intensification of tensions. in particular tensions inside syria and neighboring states. if assad survives, i would argue that an american military strike would turn assad into an arab hero, standing to the might of the greatest american and western powers. and also, i think, what you might see is that an american attack or attacks, fareed, would rekindle collective memories in