SyriaSource

SyriaSource followed the dynamics in Syria through in-depth analysis of the impact of the conflict on Syria, its neighbors and the international community. Amplifying a diverse range of Syrian and regional voices—to reach both English—and Arabic-speaking audiences, SyriaSource transforms their words from strong but distant ideas to resounding perspectives not often heard among Washington and international policymakers. For the latest work on Syria, please visit MENASource.

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The latest on Syria


MENASource

May 22, 2025

Lebanon’s 1982 war reverberates in Israel’s Syria campaign

By
Sinan Hatahet

Israel’s ongoing intervention in Syria appears different from its 1982 invasion of Lebanon—but beneath the surface, parallels are striking.

Israel
Lebanon


MENASource

May 19, 2025

Could Trump be ‘mediator-in-chief’ for Turkey and Israel in Syria?

By
Rachel Bradenburg

If Trump wants to achieve the Middle East’s “deal of a century,” its important that Netanyahu and Erdogan resolve their differences in Syria.

Israel
Middle East


New Atlanticist

May 13, 2025

Experts react: Trump just announced the removal of all US sanctions on Syria. What’s next? 

By
Atlantic Council experts

Our experts provide their insights on how the removal of US sanctions on Syria would affect the country and the wider region.

Civil Society
Economic Sanctions


MENASource

May 8, 2025

From rubble to rebirth: A model for Syria’s reconstruction

By
Mahmood Alhosain

Almost six months since Assad regime collapse, four key pillars will determine whether this new Damascus can seize the opportunity.

Civil Society
Democratic Transitions


MENASource

Apr 29, 2025

Why the US must not let Syria slip away

By
Luke Wagner

Reconsidering the uneasy US-Syria relationship amid reports that Trump and al-Sharaa will meet during the US president’s Saudi Arabia visit.

Economic Sanctions
Middle East


MENASource

Apr 1, 2025

Israel is making a miscalculation in southern Syria. Here is why.

By
Ömer Özkizilcik

Israel’s approach in southern Syria risks deepening sectarian divisions, eroding the Druze community’s standin, and fueling broader instability.

Conflict
Defense Policy


MENASource

Mar 31, 2025

Western sanctions against Damascus must evolve—Just as Syria has

By
Sinan Hatahet

The US can play a pivotal role in shaping the next chapter of Syria’s recovery by shifting its approach from maximum pressure to calibrated influence.

Middle East
Politics & Diplomacy


MENASource

Mar 25, 2025

Dispatch from Bekaa: Inside the sectarian skirmishes on the Syria-Lebanon border

By
Nicholas Blanford

Local Shia tribesmen have battled an assortment of Sunni jihadist militias and the new Syrian security forces dominated by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

English
Lebanon


MENASource

Mar 19, 2025

Inside Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s diplomatic offensive with Syria’s Christians and Ismailis

By
Gregory Waters

HTS’s diplomatic offensive demonstrates the leadership’s political approach, which evolved over years of engaging with the Christian and Druze communities in Idlib.

Democratic Transitions
Freedom and Prosperity


MENASource

Mar 19, 2025

Why the United States must bridge the Iraq-Syria divide

By
Sarkawt Shamsulddin

With leverage over both capitals, the United States emerges as the linchpin in delicate diplomatic moment between Baghdad and Damascus.

English
Iraq

Content

SyriaSource

Mar 5, 2018

Syria at Seven: Part One

By Frederic C. Hof

For the United States and its allies, the beginning of wisdom in Syria is to accept and act upon two points. First: so long as civilians are targeted effortlessly by a terrorist regime, nothing good can result; not for Syrians, not for their neighbors, not for the West. Second, the defeat of the Islamic State […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Mar 2, 2018

Speaking, Acting, and Unintended Consequences

By Frederic C. Hof

If one were to write an account chronicling, analyzing, and critiquing the unintended negative consequences of American policy toward Syria since March 2011, it would be a long and depressing read. If this writer were to highlight the deadliest and most damaging of unintended consequences, it would be this: the Assad regime’s interpretation of the […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Feb 27, 2018

Dreaming of a Syria Free of Tyranny

By Ghaith al-Ahmad

The past few weeks have produced a number of new developments in international and regional dynamics in the Syrian conflict. Opposition forces downed a Russian bomber in Idlib countryside; the United States conducted air strikes against forces loyal to the Syrian regime east of the Euphrates River; Kurdish forces took out a Turkish helicopter near […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Feb 27, 2018

Eastern Ghouta: Voices from a Bombed-Out City

By Rana Riziq

Eastern Ghouta is a suburb of Damascus. Before the war, it was an expanding part of the commuter belt where families would settle and travel the short 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) into central Damascus city for work. The original inhabitants from the area would sell their produce from their small farms. In the years since […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Feb 26, 2018

Eastern Ghouta: Will Resolution 2401 Stop the Slaughter?

By Frederic C. Hof

The unanimous vote in the UN Security Council for a well-meaning resolution demanding “a durable humanitarian pause for at least thirty consecutive days throughout Syria” may turn out, for the besieged 400,000 souls in Eastern Ghouta, to be the emptiest of gestures. It lacks an enforcement mechanism and contains a loophole all-but-inviting ongoing mass homicide. […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Feb 26, 2018

Assad Determined to Destroy What’s Left of Syria: The Continued Bombardment of Eastern Ghouta

By Natasha Hall

Four-year old Elias sits on the ground in a basement about 200 square meters with nearly 300 other people. He is playing with keys. He pretends that they are rockets falling and sprays imaginary shrapnel everywhere. His father tells me that he is a child and “his war games are already inspired by his reality.” […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Feb 21, 2018

The Slaughter of Eastern Ghouta

By Frederic C. Hof

Just five days ago, in this blog, this writer assessed the possibility of Russia playing a positive role in ending Syria’s armed conflict. The following words proposed the test: “If the mass murder of Syrian civilians continues—and especially if Russian pilots participate in it—Washington and its partners may safely conclude with respect to Russian benign […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Feb 21, 2018

Deir Ezzor: An Unbalanced Equation in the Syrian Conflict

By Sardar Mlla Drwish

Deir Ezzor today is a complex variable in the Syrian equation, particularly since the opposition wrested control of the province from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in 2013 followed by Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh) control in 2014. Deir Ezzor now contends with several forces trying to control it: Russia works to manage its […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Feb 20, 2018

Syrian Refugees: The Right to Return, But Not the Wrong Way

By Hanan Elbadawi

Since September 2017, the agreed upon “de-escalation deal”  seemed to mark the final chapter of the Syrian civil war; entering into its eighth year. The goal of the Astana talks in 2017 was to sustain the de-escalation deal, in order to minimize violence, secure more aid, and consequently make it “safe” for Syrian refugees to […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Feb 16, 2018

Is Russia Seeking a Peaceful Path?

By Frederic C. Hof

Between Moscow and Washington there is agreement on the desirability of a Syria reflecting territorial integrity, stability, empowered local governance, legitimate national governance, an active civil society, and a country rebuilding its physical infrastructure and its sense of shared citizenship. Even Iran might pose no objection to such an outcome, provided Syria remains a superhighway […]

Syria
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