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


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


MENASource

Mar 18, 2025

Landmark SDF-Damascus deal presents opportunity, and uncertainty, for Turkey

By
Ömer Özkizilcik

Despite positive signals, critical ambiguities remain in agreement between Syrian President Ahmed Shara and SDF commander Mazloum Abdi.

English
Middle East


MENASource

Mar 10, 2025

Syria’s women face a new chapter. Here’s how to amplify their voices.

By
Diana Rayes , Hind Kabawat

It is critical for women to be involved in transitional justice and constitutional reform processes in Syria.

Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding
Syria

Content

SyriaSource

Apr 17, 2017

Has the International Community Succeeded in Creating a Safe Zone in Syria After Years of War?

By Hosam al-Jablawi

Turkey has come a long way in repairing and rebuilding infrastructure in areas formerly controlled by Syrian armed opposition groups. This is in part because of Turkey’s Euphrates Shield operation, which launched to support and protect its southern border from the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) and block Kurds from unifying their territories in northern […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 14, 2017

Russia Won’t Forsake Assad—And We Shouldn’t Be Surprised

By Youssef Sadaki

It should not have surprised anyone when Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov disappointed his counterpart Rex Tillerson by insisting on standing by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russia has unhesitatingly thrown its weight behind Assad since the start of the Syrian conflict, allocating massive resources to guarantee the Assad regime’s victory. But despite Russia’s publicly declared […]

Russia Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 14, 2017

Syria: Thinking Strategically

By Frederic C. Hof

Those who think that President Donald Trump can do nothing right—that he is incapable even of matching the performance of a broken clock—have a ready riposte to his cruise missile assault on a Syrian airbase from which a chemical weapons assault was launched: yes, the perpetrators deserved this. But what’s next? Where is the strategy?

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 13, 2017

Discussion with Aaron Stein on the End of Euphrates Shield

By SyriaSource

Hossam: Hi my name is Hossam Abouzahr and I am the editor in chief in the Rafik Hariri Center at the Atlantic Council. Today we’re going to talk with Aaron Stein about Turkey’s recent ending of the Euphrates Shield Operation in Syria. My first question is, what led them to ending the operation? It ended […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 13, 2017

Trump’s Syria Policy is Aggressive, but Is It Effective?

By Sam Fouad

According to Defense Secretary James Mattis, the US priority remains defeating the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), bringing the focus back to the long battle in Mosul, and the pending battle in Raqqa after the US military strikes on Shayrat airbase. In the battle against ISIS, US strategy has evolved in the Trump administration’s first […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 12, 2017

Hezbollah’s Balancing Act Between Syria and Lebanon

By Ali Alfoneh

Lebanese Hezbollah was founded on the doctrine of resistance against Israel. Since at least 2012 however, the Shia militia has fought in neighboring Syria on Iran’s behalf to secure the survival of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and thereby maintain its own overland corridor to Tehran. Though it has succeeded, along with Iran and Russia, in stabilizing […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 11, 2017

Syria: Get Civilians Off the Bullseye

By Frederic C. Hof

Before sunup in Syria on April 7, 2017, fifty-nine sea-launched cruise missiles were impacting on a Syrian airbase from which aircraft loaded with chemical munitions had been launched three days earlier. The alacrity of President Trump’s kinetic response to Bashar al-Assad’s chemical assault on civilians contrasted sharply with the paralysis of his predecessor. 

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 11, 2017

Victims of the Syrian War to President Trump: “Stop the War”

By Saleem al-Omar

After the US missile strike, many members of the Syrian opposition conveyed their support for the strike and their hope that the United States continues with more. Their statements send a clear message to President Bashar al-Assad that the most important thing to them is ending the war and their suffering.

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 7, 2017

Jihadists in Syria Stopped Fearing the United States When Trump Reached the White House

By Saleem al-Omar

The jihadist Abu Aisha opened his remarks on the United States with a verse from the Quran: “We will surely test you with fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient / Who, when disaster strikes them, say, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah and […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 7, 2017

Al-Bab Residents Slowly Return after the City Is Liberated from ISIS

By Hasan Arfeh

On February 23, Turkish and rebel forces seized al-Bab in northern Syria from the Islamic State group (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) after three years under the terrorist group’s control. Like many Syrian cities, since 2011 it was treated unfairly by the media, which stereotyped it as one of ISIS’s strongest bases of support in Syria and […]

Syria
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