Journalist Reese Erlich on the Syrian civil war and why it matters

Guest: Reese Erlich

The violent civil war in Syria has been raging since 2011 and shows no signs of ending soon. Close to 200,000 civilians have been killed and nearly 2.7 million Syrians have fled abroad, mostly to neighboring countries. President Bashar al-Assad’s pro-government forces and more than a dozen diverse groups of Syrian rebels continue to battle for control across the country. The situation is dramatically more complicated since the rise of Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. Journalist REESE ERLICH’s new book Inside Syria: The Back Story of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect unravels the roots of the Syrian uprising and the current struggle for power, and explores the possible way forward. Erlich has covered the Middle East for almost 30 years, reports from Syria frequently and has visited all its neighboring countries.