Featured reading

What Is the Future of the Moderate Opposition?

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

What Is the Future of the Moderate Opposition?

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

What Is the Future of the Moderate Opposition?

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

What Is the Future of the Moderate Opposition?

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

What Is the Future of the Moderate Opposition?

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

Event Recap

Oct 30, 2023

Addressing the captagon crisis in MENA: Strategies & Challenges

By
Diane Mohamed and Rachel Friedman

The Syria Program hosted a panel discussion taking stock of current captagon landscape in Syria and captagon’s place within the global illicit supply chain.

Corruption
Crisis Management

Public Event
Thu, September 28, 2023 • 12:20 pm ET

Addressing the captagon crisis in MENA: Strategies & challenges

Civil Society
Corruption
Economy & Business
Freedom and Prosperity

Public Event
Wed, July 19, 2023 • 9:00 am ET

How can the United States counter normalization with Assad in the Middle East

Civil Society
Human Rights
International Organizations
Middle East

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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

Fighters of the Syrian Islamist rebel group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham cheer on a pick up truck near the wreckage of a Russian helicopter that had been shot down in the north of Syria's rebel-held Idlib province, Syria August 1, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah

SyriaSource

Jun 2, 2017

What Is the Future of the Moderate Opposition?

By Hosam al-Jablawi

Since the Assad regime’s victory in Aleppo, the battlefield has moved to Idlib province, where armed groups opposed to Assad are battling for influence and a say in the future of the area. The first upshot of that struggle was that the extremist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly the Nusra Front) ousted several moderate Syrian […]

Syria
Protesters carry opposition flags as they march along a street during an anti-government protest in the rebel-controlled area of Maaret al-Numan town in Idlib province, Syria March 25, 2016. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

SyriaSource

Jun 2, 2017

Idlib Is Becoming a Collective Home for the Opposition, Including Non-Syrian Jihadists

By Saleem al-Omar

The convoys of rebels arriving one after the other in Idlib, such as those coming from Hay al-Waer in Homs and the Damascus suburb of Qaboun, will not be the last. The regime has succeeded in turning Idlib into a hope for the remaining Syrian opposition as they are driven out of other areas. Turkey […]

Syria

In the News

Jun 1, 2017

Stein Quoted by Al-Monitor on Kurdish Progress in Raqqa

By Aaron Stein

Read the full article here.

Syria

In the News

May 28, 2017

Itani Quoted by the Arab Weekly on United States Involvement in the War in Syria

By Faysal Itani

Read the full article here.

Syria

Defense Industrialist

May 27, 2017

Exports and end-use

By James Hasik

We can ask the US Army to arm, advise, and assist its allies in the Iraqi Army, or we can ask the Army to consolidate its spreadsheets. For Iraqis, this fight is existential, and I’d rather they simply crushed ISIS. Wars may be audits themselves, but wars this hot may be no time for audits.

Arms Control Defense Industry

In the News

May 26, 2017

Itani Quoted by Arab News on the United States and Iran in Syria

By Faysal Itani

Read the full article here.

Syria

SyriaSource

May 24, 2017

Securing Eastern Syria

By Frederic C. Hof

American airstrikes on a pro-Assad regime, Iranian-backed militia on May 18th and a Department of Defense press briefing on the following day provided clues of how the campaign to liberate eastern Syria—especially the Euphrates River Valley (which includes the cities of Raqqa and Deir Ezzor)—from ISIS (ISIL, Daesh, Islamic State) is shaping up. A key […]

Syria

SyriaSource

May 23, 2017

How the ‘De-Escalation Zone’ Plan Benefits Syria’s Foreign Players

By Lorenzo Trombetta

BEIRUT – Russia, Iran and Turkey’s recent agreement to create “de-escalation zones” in Syria is a result of Moscow’s significant steps towards partitioning the western part of the country into zones of – sometimes foreign – influence. The Kremlin’s plan, proposed at the recent round of Astana negotiations, safeguards its own interests in Syria, while giving […]

Syria

SyriaSource

May 19, 2017

Turkey is Missing Out on an Opportunity to Integrate Syrian Refugees and Revive its Economy

By Saleem al-Omar

The victory of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the constitutional referendum held on April 16 spurred great enthusiasm among the Syrian population in Turkey, who hoped that the AKP would use the victory to also help the Syrian refugees. However, the government has not taken any steps to improve the lives of Syrians. […]

Syria Turkey

SyriaSource

May 19, 2017

How Did the US End up at the Gates of Raqqa?

By Loubna Mrie

With Trump’s approval last week to directly arm the YPG, the United States is gearing up for the battle to capture Raqqa city from the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh). To understand how the United States got to this point—arming proxy forces, troops on the ground, all the while conducting air strikes—one can ask: […]

Syria
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Experts

Fellow

Amany Qaddour 

Nonresident Senior Fellow

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

Fellow

Lukas Andriukaitis

Nonresident Fellow

Digital Forensic Research Lab

Disinformation Eastern Europe

Staff

Elise Baker

Senior Staff Lawyer, Strategic Litigation Project

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Civil Society Extremism

Fellow

Nicholas Blanford

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Conflict

Fellow

Alia Brahimi

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Civil Society
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