U.S Policy Towards the Syrian Crisis Under the Obama and Trump Administrations

The Syrian crisis has been on the spotlight of the regional and international press. One of the countries whose positions towards the Syrian crisis are important is the United States. So the question of this paper is: What are the principles and objectives of U.S. foreign policy toward Syria? What is the difference between Obama’s and Trump’s approach to the crisis? In response to this question, the research hypothesis suggests that by pursuing such objectives as the policy of containing China and Russia, guaranteeing free flow of oil and energy, maintaining Israel›s security and containing Iran’s regional power influence, the Americans seek to overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s government and to restructure power structure in Syria. The research findings show that Trump will change Obama’s limited intervention policy to direct military intervention in Syria. Although he first presented his priority as the internal issues of the United States, he is not reluctant to try some symbolic measures for American power projection in the region and this adventure can be dangerous. This article uses a descriptive-analytical method, drawing upon the theory of aggressive realism for analyzing U.S. behavior.