 This is in lieu of the CIA-backed operation Timber Sycamore, which provide weapons and trainings to anti-government rebels, but proved to be ineffective by the end of the Obama presidency.In comments published on 1 December 2016, about the U.S. becoming increasingly sidelined by Moscow and Ankara, Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, blamed the marginalisation of the U.S. in the Syrian Civil War and the region at large on Barack Obama, "The American approach to this conflict guaranteed the US less and less relevance, not just in the Syrian conflict but also the broader regional dynamics.There has been a loss of face and a loss of leverage.