WASHINGTON, Arab News, 10 March 2017 – As it prepares for its first counter-Daesh summit on March 22-23, the Trump administration is also signaling a counter-Iran strategy in its efforts in Syria.
Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, in remarks on Wednesday night that addressed the lingering conflict in Syria said, “We have got to make sure we get Iran and their proxies out, we have got to make sure that, as we move forward, we are securing the borders for our allies as well.”

Haley, known for her blunt criticism since she took the job in January of Russia and Iran, said the Syria question “is very much about a political solution now … and that basically means that Syria can no longer be a safe haven for terrorists.”

Joseph Bahout, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Arab News that Haley’s sentiment “will only be considered a departure from the last eight years of US policy on Syria under the Obama administration, if the Trump team has thoroughly thought of a new policy as a whole…”
On the ground in Syria, the “US has been so far toothless on this issue of pushing Iran out,” but if there are plans in that direction, Bahout said, “it is easier to do it in Syria than in Iraq.”
He said that in Syria, unlike Iraq, “it is via proxy and less face to face than Iraq where US troops are on the ground, and Iran is a co-owner of the country” following the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The Russian influence in Syria could also drive attempts by Washington to peel it from Iran, added Bahout. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin discussed Iranian influence in Syria with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and he is expected to meet Turkish President Recep Tayib Erdogan Friday.

Michael Ratney, the former US envoy for Syria, has been promoted to deputy assistant secretary last month, and is directing both the Syria file and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process according to the State Department.
The State Department also confirmed Thursday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will host on March 22-23 a 68-nation meeting in Washington to discuss the next moves by the coalition fighting Daesh.