SERIOUS SYRIA QUESTIONS: As the U.S. prepares a new, more aggressive strategy to defeat the Islamic State in its self-proclaimed capital in Raqqa, Syria, the biggest planning problem isn’t ISIS, or Bashar Assad or the Russians. It’s Turkey. There is little doubt that the offensive to liberate Raqqa will require more troops, more firepower, and more logistical support than the ragtag Syrian Arab Coalition can muster. The Obama administration was on the verge of arming the largely Kurdish force, which has proven to be the most effective fighting force against ISIS in Syria, but NATO ally Turkey is adamantly opposed to the plan. It considers some of the Kurdish YPG (People’s Protection Units) fighters to be terrorists, linked to the outlawed PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) a separatist group labeled a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” by the U.S. State Department.

The U.S. could essentially abandon the Syrian Kurds, and go with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s offer to send troops and artillery to Raqqa as well as setting up “safe zones” in the north. But that would punish the one group that up to now has been America’s most reliable ally on the ground.