U.S. options for Syria policy appear to be all bad

Washington — The disintegration of diplomatic talks with Russia has left the Obama administration with an array of bad options for what to do next in Syria.

Despite harrowing scenes of violence in the city of Aleppo and beyond, President Barack Obama is unlikely to approve any dramatic shift in strategy before handing the civil war over to his successor in January.

The options under discussion at the White House — limited military strikes, sanctions, more weapons for rebels, multiparty talks — have one thing in common: None appears likely to halt the bloodshed in the short term.

The more aggressive proposals come with the added risk of pulling the U.S. into direct military confrontation with Russia, a threat illuminated by a string of recent taunts from Moscow.

Obama has wrestled for years with the Syria crisis and is reluctant to entangle the U.S. in another Mideast war. He insisted the only viable path forward involved U.S.-Russia-brokered talks, but they have now fallen apart,

He faces the prospect of leaving office as a bystander to a war in which an estimated 500,000 people have been killed and 11 million people — half of Syria’s pre-war population — have become refugees.

“Obama’s practically lameduck status only reinforces the argument for maintaining the current policy,” said Jonathan Stevenson, a former senior Mideast adviser to the president. “It’s true, of course, that presidents on their way out are not always risk-averse, but maybe they should be.”

Secretary of State John Kerry and others are clamoring for a stronger response after the Syrian and Russian assaults on Aleppo punctured the veneer of a productive diplomatic track, and the U.S. withdrew from talks with Russia last week.

Evidence of the collapse of relations abounded Friday.

The U.S. formally accused Russia of trying to meddle in the U.S. election by hacking U.S. political groups, and Kerry accused the Kremlin of war crimes in Syria. Earlier, Russia suspended deals with the U.S. on nuclear research cooperation and disposal of weapons-grade plutonium.

The turn of events has led the White House to cautiously reconsider proposals that had been largely ruled out, including economic penalties against Russia that the U.S. would have to orchestrate with Russia’s larger trading partners.