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 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


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

Content

SyriaSource

Oct 23, 2015

FSA Forces Defy the Russians as Aircrafts Shell Civilians in Northern Syria

By Saleem al-Omar

Aircrafts hover over the Syrian opposition-controlled territories in northern Syria, easily visible to the naked eye. Witnesses to the missile strikes shout “God is great,” expressing their feelings of shock, fear, and anxiety.

Syria

SyriaSource

Oct 22, 2015

Without Committed Air Support, Kurdish Forces cannot go on the Offensive against ISIS

By Mecid Mohamed

Despite repeated attempts to take the towns of al-Shaddadi and al-Hool, located fifty kilometers south and forty kilometers east of Hasaka, respectively, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) have been unable to advance towards either of these strategically important locations. Notwithstanding sustained air support from the international coalition to combat missions in and around Hasaka, […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Oct 22, 2015

Top News: Syrian Kurdish leaders hold talks in Moscow

By Syria Source

Leaders from Syria’s Kurdish community on Wednesday held talks in Moscow with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov over the conflict in Syria. Bogdanov hosted the co-chair of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) Asya Abdullah and the head of the administration in the town of Kobani Anwar Muslim, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Oct 21, 2015

Assad the Prop

By Frederic C. Hof

Russian President Vladimir Putin is orchestrating the performance of his life, using Syria as the stage on which he proclaims Moscow’s reemergence as the third Rome and drives a spike into what he describes as Washington’s democratization and regime change jihad.  Having declared war on the Islamic State (ISIL, ISIS, or Daesh) in Syria, he […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Oct 21, 2015

Top News: Assad meets with Putin in Moscow

By Syria Source

President Bashar al-Assad has traveled to Moscow in his first known trip abroad since war broke out in Syria in 2011, meeting his strongest ally Russian leader Vladimir Putin. The two leaders stressed that military operations in Syria, in which Moscow is the latest and most powerful addition, must lead to a political process. Turkish […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Oct 21, 2015

Europe, not the United States, Pays the Price of Failure in Syria

By Bassma Kodmani

Russian President Putin has decided that Syria is part of Russia’s near abroad, no less than Ukraine it seems, a territory where some vital national interests are at stake. He has predicted the fecklessness of Western powers well. Whether he is deploying his arsenal in Syria to fight Daesh or to bolster Assad, by moving […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Oct 20, 2015

Top News: UN says tens of thousands flee Syria regime offensive in Aleppo

By Syria Source

The Syrian government’s military offensive on the outskirts of the northern city of Aleppo has displaced thousands in recent days, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) says. A spokeswoman for UNOCHA said that the fighting had displaced 35,000 people from Hader and Zerbeh on the outskirts of the city in the past […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Oct 20, 2015

A Political Solution in Syria Needs to Break the Unholy Alliance

By Rashad al-Kattan

The intractable Syrian conflict has created the temptation to flirt with keeping in power Bashar al-Assad, the heir to the now 45-year-old al-Assad dynasty, through a political deal. But this will prove nothing more than a futile exercise of wishful thinking. The much-touted mantra of reaching a ‘political solution’ that keeps Assad in power belies […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Oct 19, 2015

Top News: Air strikes on ISIS convoy in Syria kill forty

By Syria Source

Air strikes targeting a motorcade belonging to the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) killed at least forty jihadists in central Syria over the weekend. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said unidentified warplanes hit the sixteen-vehicle convoy Saturday night, traveling from the jihadist group’s self-declared capital of Raqqa in northern Syria into the countryside […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Oct 16, 2015

Civil Society and the Future of Syria

By Frederic C. Hof

No one can look at the horrors consuming Syria today without being tempted to think that the country is finished. Some who yield to this temptation try to shoehorn their feelings into a specific historical context, often portraying Sykes-Picot as an original sin requiring expiation in the form of new national boundaries. Others tend to […]

Syria
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