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.

Explore MENASOURCE

The latest on Syria


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


MENASource

Feb 26, 2025

Why post-Assad Syria complicates the Iran-Turkey rivalry

By
Giorgio Cafiero

Depending on what unfolds after Assad’s fall, there could be reason to expect a degree of Iran-Turkey alignment in Syria.

Crisis Management
Democratic Transitions


MENASource

Feb 13, 2025

Dispatch from Syria: ‘Syrians cannot focus on their future if they are still drowning in their past’

By
Arwa Damon

The pain felt by those searching for clues in the dark void of the former regime’s detention system is palpable, Arwa Damon reports from Syria.

Conflict
Crisis Management

Content

SyriaSource

May 10, 2016

Iran Deal Fuels Syria’s War

By Omar Hossino and Suhayla Sibaai

In 2015, President Obama announced the framework for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, more commonly known as the Iran deal. Obama claimed that a deal would make Iran “operate in a responsible fashion.” Obama’s adviser Ben Rhodes said that the deal would “produce an evolution in Iran’s behavior” and ran a sophisticated media campaign […]

Syria

SyriaSource

May 10, 2016

#5YearsWeFled: Giving Up Our Dignity for the Future

By Ayman Jalwan

This series is from interviews with the lawyer Ayman Jalwan. It highlights the difficult choice that Syrians face—dying in the war zone that Syria had become, or flee the land he loved. Last year, he and his wife said goodbye to their families and joined the wave of citizens leaving the country. First they had […]

Syria

SyriaSource

May 9, 2016

Beating the Blob and Disentangling from Partners

By Frederic C. Hof

Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama’s deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, is the subject of David Samuels’ piece in the New York Times Magazine: “The Aspiring Novelist Who Became Obama’s Foreign Policy Guru”. If Jeffrey Goldberg’s March 2016 on the “Obama doctrine” was not a sufficient foreign policy Rosetta Stone to decode an administration absolutely […]

Syria

SyriaSource

May 6, 2016

Books as Weapons of Resistance

By Rahaf Habboub

Amer turns the pages of a book. He is sitting in the hallways of an underground library where he creates a world for himself far away from the outside world above. Holding a copy of Commentary on the Mu’allaqat, he explains that he feels that his soul is full of poetry. Despite the sounds of […]

Syria

SyriaSource

May 6, 2016

Aleppo: A View from Idlib

By Saleem al-Omar

These days, Idlib residents all have their eyes fixed on the sky following the fighter jets heading north to strike Aleppo. The air strikes destroyed Al-Quds hospital and the infrastructure in Aleppo. Local residents are fearful of a looming war in Idlib that will have the same fate as Aleppo.

Syria

SyriaSource

May 5, 2016

Keeping Syria in Focus

By Frederic C. Hof

On May 11, I will become Director of the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. Leading an extraordinarily talented cadre of Hariri Center colleagues in their quest to understand the dynamics of change in the Middle East-North Africa region and to identify how the United States and its transatlantic partners can influence […]

Syria

SyriaSource

May 3, 2016

Saving the Ceasefire, Moving Forward

By Frederic C. Hof

Secretary of State John Kerry is investing quality time trying to salvage the “cessation of hostilities” in Syria that began on February 26. For much of March, violence—particularly attacks on civilians—subsided and the United Nations was able to move a modicum of humanitarian aid into desperately needy Syrian communities. But violence is now on the […]

Syria

SyriaSource

May 3, 2016

The EU-Turkey Deal: View from Greece

By Miriam Berger

Shahira, 57, from Deir Ezzor knows that there’s a widespread refugee fatigue: the numbers—over one million people fleeing by sea to Europe just in 2015—have overwhelmed western countries and publics. She also knows painfully well that—despite the strong efforts of many—Europe’s system is failing Syrians like her. Spend just a day in the Greece she’s […]

Syria

SyriaSource

May 2, 2016

#5YearsWeFled: All I Want is to be Safe

By Ayman Jalwan

This series is from interviews with the lawyer Ayman Jalwan. It highlights the difficult choice that Syrians face—dying in the war zone that Syria had become, or flee the land he loved. Last year, he and his wife said goodbye to their families and joined the wave of citizens leaving the country. First they had […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 29, 2016

Syrian Political Transition: Are the Rules Being Bent?

By Frederic C. Hof

UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura recently released a “Mediator’s Summary of the 13-17 April Round of UN Facilitated Intra-Syrian Talks.” It is a thoughtful and thought-provoking document. It appropriately asks far more questions than it answers about political transition in Syria. Even as a regime-Russian military offensive focusing on Aleppo—one targeting civilians and medical […]

Syria
Load More