Raqqa, the capital of Islamic State's self-declared caliphate in eastern Syria, is surrounded by some of the world's strongest military powers. With American, Russian, and Iranian forces all intertwined in the effort to obliterate it, the battlefield odds aren't even close. That's why in Washington, Moscow, and Tehran, as well as in Damascus and Ankara, political and military leaders are looking beyond the showdown with the jihadis to the struggle for what's left of Syria.
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