Podcast
Radio National Breakfas

Future of NATO and Syria Ceasefire

Joel Rayburn
Joel Rayburn
Joel Rayburn
Senior Fellow, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East
Joel Rayburn
Podcast
Syrian government forces are deployed near Al-Aqtan prison on January 19, 2026 in Raqqa, Syria. Yesterday, the Syrian government announced that a nationwide ceasefire deal had been reached with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who had been clashing with government forces in recent weeks. The Kurdish-led force, a long-time ally of the United States in the fight against ISIS, had controlled large swaths of northwest Syria during the years of the country's civil war. The current ceasefire paves
Syrian government forces are deployed near Al-Aqtan prison on January 19, 2026, in Raqqa, Syria. (Getty Images)

Joel Rayburn appears on Radio National Breakfast to discuss the United States military’s transfer of up to 7,000 Islamic State detainees from northeastern Syria to Iraq. This transfer was a response to Syrian government forces taking control of vast areas of the country’s north, which Kurdish-led militia previously held.

image of a concrete wall

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