The Wall Street Journal reports the Obama administration is revisiting military options in Syria.   This is likely a response to the stalled peace talks and the highly spoken of but slow moving effort to remove chemical weapons from Syria.

While the world has been waiting for chemical weapons to be removed from Syria and diplomacy to bear fruit at the peace talks, Russia and Iran have busily provided weapons, aid, training and political cover.  Radical Islamists have also continued to gain strength undermining the original secular native rebel forces.  Syria can now boast having more Islamic foreign fighters than any time in history.

Reported options being evaluated include training/equipping rebels and setting up no fly zones.  Allegedly, Secretary of State John Kerry has been a leading force in re-evaluating the American position, ironic considering he was the one who jokingly suggested the removal of chemical weapons as a potential solution to the Syria crisis after the US threatened military action in response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons.

Syrian refugees have flooded Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon, a potentially destabilizing factor in all these countries.  Both sides of the civil war are currently and can remain destabilizing elements to the region. 140,000 people have died in Syria. 30% of Syrians do not live in their homes.  10% have left the country.   The situation is not getting better nor is it likely to end anytime soon.