Syria, the Backstage - Episode 4

Episode 4 starts with the destabilization of Aleppo, Syria’s industrial and financial center. The country’s largest city is now fractured with the Regime controlling the west and the rebels, who have a foothold in the east. The Obama administration is divided on how to deal with the new developments in Syria. Some officials in The White House wants to push for a no-fly zone to protect the opposition and civilians, but indecision leads to a muted response. Meanwhile the Syrian opposition splinters into hundreds of groups, as foreign powers seek proxies to support and radical groups target moderate factions and move on Raqqa. An insider shares reports that Iraqi intelligence warned the White House about a new extremist force emerging on the Iraqi-Syrian border. A Pentagon official tells us that these warnings were not taken seriously. That force grows to become DAESH and they change the course of the Syrian Revolution forever. CIA Director David Petraeus talks about how he foresaw that the crackdown on Sunni Arabs during the insurgency in Iraq would fan the flames of the terror group in the region. DAESH starts to become a bigger problem than Assad as Syrians share stories of the horrors they experience under its reign of terror.