Featured reading

Why the US must not let Syria slip away

New Atlanticist Dec 8, 2024

Experts react: Rebels have toppled the Assad regime. What’s next for Syria, the Middle East, and the world?

By Atlantic Council experts

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has been ousted as opposition forces quickly took the Syrian capital. Atlantic Council experts share their insights on the developments.
Conflict Corruption
Why the US must not let Syria slip away

Fast Thinking Dec 8, 2024

Assad has fallen. Now what?

By Atlantic Council

The power shift in Syria will reverberate across the Middle East and the world. Our experts explain what’s next.
Conflict Iran
Why the US must not let Syria slip away

New Atlanticist Dec 9, 2024

Dispatch from Doha: Assad’s fall, Iran’s weakness, and the impact of unintended consequences

By Jonathan Panikoff

In just six months, Iran has slid from a position of strength to perhaps the weakest it has been since 1979.
Conflict Iran
Why the US must not let Syria slip away

MENASource Dec 10, 2024

Where Syria goes next after the fall of Assad

By Frederic C. Hof

With the Assad family agone, Syria, at long last, has a chance to achieve the kind of political transition envisioned by the 2012 Geneva Final Communique and UNSCR 2254.
Conflict Middle East
Why the US must not let Syria slip away

New Atlanticist Dec 10, 2024

A blueprint for bringing about a new Syria

By Kirsten Fontenrose

For a reconstruction strategy in Syria to be effective, all parties must adopt a unified approach that is clear-eyed about the country’s new leaders.
Crisis Management International Organizations

Explore our Syria work

Syria Project

Our work on Syria sheds light on the ongoing struggle of Syrians to fulfill their desire for democratic self-governance as the United States and the international community grapple with the aftermath of a devastating civil war, millions of refugees across the Middle East and Europe, and ongoing security and political challenges spilling over Syria’s borders.

Group of world leaders sitting around table set up.

Syria Strategy Project

The Atlantic Council, Middle East Institute, and European Institute of Peace collaborate with subject matter experts and policymakers in the US, Europe, and the Middle East to develop a holistic strategy to sustainably forge a pathway to resolving Syria’s crisis.

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Featured experts

Leadership

Fellow

Qutaiba Idlbi

Resident Senior Fellow, Syria

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Economic Sanctions Entrepreneurship

Fellows

Fellow

Michel Duclos

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Conflict Crisis Management

Fellow

Arwa Damon

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Civil Society

Fellow

Ömer Özkizilcik

Nonresident Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic English

Fellow

Sinan Hatahet

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Economic Sanctions

Former fellow

Hind Kabawat

Former Nonresident Senior Fellow, Syria Project

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Civil Society

Fellow

Diana Rayes 

Nonresident Fellow, Syria Project

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Civil Society

Past events

Online Event Thu, December 19, 2024 • 12:30 pm ET

Putin loses in Syria. Is Russia in retreat?
Conflict Europe & Eurasia Middle East Russia
Online Event Tue, May 21, 2024 • 10:30 am ET

Exploring investment opportunities in northwest Syria
Conflict Economic Sanctions Economy & Business Financial Regulation

Event Recap

Mar 29, 2024

Launching the Syria Strategy Project

By JP Reppeto and Charles Johnson

On March 18, 2024, the Atlantic Council’s Syria Project, the Middle East Institute’s Syria Program, the European Institute of Peace, and Madaniya Civil Society Network launched the Syria Strategy, an intensive process of engagement with subject matter experts and policymakers in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East to develop a holistic strategy to […]

Civil Society Conflict
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Learn more about the Middle East Programs

Middle East Programs

Working with our allies and partners in Europe and the wider Middle East to protect US interests, build peace and security, and unlock the human potential of the region.

EXPLORE THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL’S MIDDLE EAST PROGRAMS

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Sign up for the MENASource newsletter, highlighting pieces that follow democratic transitions and economic changes throughout the region.



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Content

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

In the News

Mar 18, 2025

Rayes in British Medical Journal: quantifying the effects of attacks on health facilities on health service use in Northwest Syria: a case time series study from 2017 to 2019

By Atlantic Council

Conflict Middle East

In the News

Mar 18, 2025

Bakir in Middle East Eye: Why Israel wants Syria to become a failed state

By Atlantic Council

Conflict Israel

In the News

Mar 18, 2025

Bakir joins Al Jazeera to discuss Abdullah Öcalan’s call for the PKK to disarm and dissolve

By Atlantic Council

Arms Control Conflict

In the News

Mar 18, 2025

Özkizilcik quoted in Türkiye Today on US support for the Syrian Democratic Forces

By Atlantic Council

Conflict Middle East
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Experts

Fellow

Lesley Chavkin

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Economic Statecraft Initiative GeoEconomics Center

Africa Economy & Business

Fellow

Hagar Hajjar Chemali

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Economic Statecraft Initiative GeoEconomics Center

Economic Sanctions Economy & Business

Fellow

Arwa Damon

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Civil Society

Fellow

Michel Duclos

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Conflict Crisis Management

Fellow

Sinan Hatahet

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Economic Sanctions

Fellow

Qutaiba Idlbi

Resident Senior Fellow, Syria

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Economic Sanctions Entrepreneurship
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