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

Sep 14, 2016

The Growth of the Syrian Media and Responsible Voices

By Caroline Ayoub

For the forty years under the Assad regime, Syrians had limited access to information and no freedom of expression. The initial media rush was part of a larger movement in which Syrians were able to express themselves in protests through signs, songs, art, and other creative expressions. However, a few qualities set media work apart. […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Sep 13, 2016

How Syria is Changing Israel’s Position in the Middle East

By Moran Stern

Despite decades of contentious relations between Israel and Syria, including three wars, Syria giving refuge to the National Liberation Movement (Fatah) combatants in the 1960s, and continued failed peace negotiations, the 57-mile border with Syria has remained Israel’s most stable for more than four decades, even after the outbreak of the war in Syria.

Syria

SyriaSource

Sep 12, 2016

Re-engineering the Population: the Syrian Regime’s Policy to Eliminate the Opposition

By Hosam al-Jablawi

In light of the ongoing war, the conflict approaching the city of Hama, and the increasing displacement of people from the countryside, the regime has adopted a policy of re-engineering the population to ensure a base of popular support in city centers. This policy exacerbates the suffering of people currently living in the Hama region, […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Sep 10, 2016

Frederic C. Hof and Faysal Itani’s Joint Statement on US-Russia Agreement for Syria

By Frederic C. Hof and Faysal Itani

If, in the end, Russian air strikes in Syria are subjected to an American veto, the Assad regime is kept from striking civilian neighborhoods, and significant aid flows resume to opposition areas, something of great value will have been accomplished. Nothing good can happen politically in Syria unless civilians are removed from the Assad regime […]

Russia Syria

SyriaSource

Sep 9, 2016

Analysis: How Evacuating al-Waer and ‘Other Darayyas’ Will Help Assad

By Annia Ciezadlo

BEIRUT – A little girl shakes violently, crying as two men soothe her burned skin with mud, the only first aid they can find. A little boy trembles and screams as adults try to find gauze to put on his burns. Other photos, too horrible to share, show the charred bodies of two-year-old Hamza and seven-month-old […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Sep 7, 2016

Education in Idlib: The Kids Aren’t Alright

By Tirwada Abd al-Haqq

There is no effective difference between the Syrian state and some of forces engaged in conflict in Syria, despite the different names which they’ve given themselves: the regime in power, revolutionaries, armed opposition, Islamist factions, and so on. Each is trying to hold the country hostage, and none are blameless when it comes to the […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Sep 1, 2016

Where Does It End?

By Frederic C. Hof

At least one senior US government official strongly disagrees with the view expressed by this writer that it is the Iran factor—the desire to achieve and protect the nuclear deal—that has stayed the hand of President Obama from using limited military means to protect Syrian civilians from Assad regime atrocities: mass homicide that has had […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Sep 1, 2016

The Art of Burial During War

By Hikmat al-Habbal

In Syria, another tragedy begins after death. People who went out on the streets to change the status quo are surprised at how burial methods have changed and Syrians’ rituals around death are disappearing.

Syria

SyriaSource

Sep 1, 2016

Sanctions as a Viable Action in a Complicated Environment

By Susan Waltz & Hossam Abouzahr

When the US Congress returns from its summer recess, the House of Representatives is slated to consider the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2016. The legislation—intended to expand the existing Syrian sanctions regime—is named after “Caesar,” the pseudonym of a military defector who smuggled some 53,000 photographs out of Syria in 2013 documenting the […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Aug 30, 2016

Aleppo’s Deteriorating Medical Sector

By Hosam al-Jablawi

July witnessed the most extensive attacks on Syrian health facilities, most of which were located in opposition-held areas of Aleppo and Idlib provinces. The Syrian Network for Human Rights announced in a recent report that 24 hospitals and 26 ambulances had been destroyed and four medical personnel killed in one month, constituting a significant threat […]

Syria
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