Greetings. This is a special edition of the Daily Article podcast. This special edition is narrated by Chris Elkins of the Denison Forum and written by our co-founder and CEO, Dr. Jim Denison.

Note, events in the ongoing Syrian conflict are changing by the hour. The following comprises what we know as of this

writing, but the larger scenarios discussed are relevant even as further developments unfold.

Over the weekend, Syrian rebel forces seized control of the capital of Damascus, forcing the

longtime dictator, President Bashar al-Assad, into exile in Russia.

You are probably more or less interested in a country on the other side of the world,

depending on the degree to which you consider it more or less relevant to your personal world.

In one scenario, this is good news for Americans.

In three other scenarios, it could lead to global war.

A civil war against Assad's brutal regime has been ongoing in Syria since 2011.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed.

Half the population has been displaced.

By way of geography, Syria is bordered on the north by Turkey,

on the east and southeast by Iraq, on the west by the Mediterranean Sea, on the southwest by Lebanon

and Israel, and on the south by Jordan. Consider a brief timeline of the Syrian conflict. In 2013, Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iranian proxy

came to Assad's support halting rebel momentum against the regime. In 2014, U.S. forces

intervened in the civil war to fight ISIS forces in the country. The U.S. continues to support Kurdish forces

opposed to the Islamic State and to Assad.

There are approximately 900 American soldiers in Syria today.

In 2015, Russia joined the war on Assad's side

with airstrikes that turned the conflict against the rebels

for years to come.

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