President Barack Obama’s administration pursued secret communications with Syria’s regime over several years. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The Obama administration pursued secret communications with elements of Syria’s regime over several years in a failed attempt to limit violence and get President Bashar al-Assad to relinquish power, according to US and Arab officials.

Early on, the US looked for cracks in the regime it could exploit to encourage a military coup, but found few. The efforts reflect how President Barack Obama’s administration has grappled to understand and interact with an opaque Middle East dictatorship run for 45 years by the Assad family.

Read full story at The Wall Street Journal.