Whether the US fails or succeeds in Syria, tough choices lie ahead

BEIRUT - As the perennial jousting between the U.S. and Iran focuses on drones, nuclear enrichment and safe passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, Washington is struggling on a lesser watched front in the region: northeastern Syria.

That's where the U.S. led a coalition of European and regional nations in support of a Kurdish-dominated group of militias against Islamic State extremists, lavishing the Kurds with weapons, training, air cover and the assistance of thousands of U.S. soldiers and contractors.

With Islamic State having been ousted from all the territory it held, the Kurdish-led fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, now control one-third of Syria. Washington wants to solidify that control, promote the SDF as a viable government and deny the resource-rich region to Syrian President Bashar Assad and his backers in Iran and Russia -