Samir Altaqi is a nonresident fellow with the Syria Project in the Atlantic Council’s Middle East programs. He is also the founder and managing director of Insight Advisory Group in Washington, DC. Moreover, he previously founded and led two research institutions: the Orient Research Centre in Dubai (leading it from 2011 to 2020) and the Orient Centre for International Studies in Damascus (leading it from 2005 to 2010). Through these centers, he advanced multiple Track II and back-channel dialogues—including the Quincy II Forum with the Middle East Institute—and pioneered the use of AI-enabled decision-support tools for political and strategic analysis.

A former member of the Syrian Parliament (from 1994 to 1998) and adviser to the Syrian prime minister, Altaqi has been actively engaged in regional peace efforts and dialogues on Syria-US relations, Syria-Israel negotiations, and GCC-US cooperation. He currently serves as an Ibrahim distinguished scholar at Queens College and has previously held affiliations with the Middle East Institute and the University of St Andrews’ Center for Syrian Studies.

He is currently a regular weekly columnist for Annahar Al-Arabi and Asharq Al-Awsat.