In 2012, as the conflict in Syria continued to smolder, then-president Barack Obama made clear that any use of chemical weapons by the Bashar al-Assad regime would constitute a “red line” for U.S. engagement. Yet in the aftermath of a sarin attack outside Damascus just a year later, the Obama administration seized the opportunity to work with Russia on an ambitious plan to hunt down and remove chemical weapons rather than go to war.

A decade later, the tangle of "heroes and villains" involved in that particular scenario is clearer. Join us for a conversation on this critical moment in the war in Syria and what it means for the conflict today, featuring Joby Warrick, author of the recently published book Red Line, in conversation with Maha Yahya, director of the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center.