The United States' Proxy War in Syria

An in-depth examination of the United States' indirect intervention into the Syrian war on two fronts: the covert CIA-led campaign against the Bashar al-Assad regime and the overt, Pentagon-led military operation against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq & Syria (ISIS). Matthew Ayton offers new insights into a dimension of US policy in Syria that has so far been given little analytical attention; the employment of what American strategists called the 'by, with & through approach' to ground warfare. This saw the US provide weaponry and training to non-state militias in an attempt to achieve strategic objectives without deploying large numbers of troops, in order to reduce blood-and-treasure costs, following the costly post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. By drawing upon a wealth of original interviews with American national security officials and the Syrians who worked with them on the ground, this book shows that despite being presented as a cost-saving panacea to intervention, this strategy came with significant - costly - and even deadly - consequences.

About the author

Matthew Ayton is a Non-resident Fellow with United States Special Operations Command's Joint Special Operations University, USA. A former Middle East correspondent, his work has been published by The Atlantic Council, Al-Jazeera and Middle East Eye.

Product details

• Authors: Matthew Ayton, Matthew Ayton
• Assisted by: Andrew Mumford (Editor), Andrew Mumford (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 18.09.2025
• EAN: 9781350503205
• ISBN: 978-1-350-50320-5
• No. of pages: 304
• Dimensions: 156 mm x 234 mm x 25 mm
• Weight: 454 g
• Series: Studies in Contemporary Warfare
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Security (National & International), POLITICAL SCIENCE / Geopolitics, POLITICAL SCIENCE / International Relations / General, Geopolitics, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Middle Eastern, International Relations, Middle East, Warfare & defence, Warfare and defence