Featured reading

Farkas in Defense News: Lessons in the Russian Drawdown in Syria for Ukraine

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

Farkas in Defense News: Lessons in the Russian Drawdown in Syria for Ukraine

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

Farkas in Defense News: Lessons in the Russian Drawdown in Syria for Ukraine

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

Farkas in Defense News: Lessons in the Russian Drawdown in Syria for Ukraine

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

Farkas in Defense News: Lessons in the Russian Drawdown in Syria for Ukraine

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.

LEARN MORE

Featured experts

Leadership

Former fellow


Qutaiba Idlbi


Former 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

In the News

Apr 2, 2016

Farkas in Defense News: Lessons in the Russian Drawdown in Syria for Ukraine

By Evelyn Farkas

Read the full article here.

Russia Syria

EconoGraphics

Apr 1, 2016

The European Refugee Surge: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities

By Alvaro Morales Salto Weis & TK Spandhla

Asylum applications to the European Union (EU) set an all-time record in 2015, more than doubling the 2014 figure, according to EUROSTAT. After the recent agreement between Turkey and the EU, the influx of refugees is expected to decrease significantly.

Afghanistan Europe & Eurasia

SyriaSource

Apr 1, 2016

Enabling Syria’s Women Journalists

By Zuhour Mahmoud

The Syrian Female Journalists’ Network is a non-profit initiative that trains Syrian female journalists and promotes their role in the region’s media. Syria Deeply spoke to co-founder Milia Eidmouni about the network’s work and its plans for women working in Syria’s media

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 1, 2016

Top News: April 1, 2016

By SyriaSource

– Death toll from east Damascus airstrikes rises to more than 30– Rebels drop leaflets over Syrian capital from drones– Canada to take in 10,000 more Syrian refugees– Syrian held for smuggling migrants to Cyprus– Turkey forcibly returned hundreds of Syrian refugees to war zone

Syria

SyriaSource

Apr 1, 2016

Killing the Islamic State in Syria

By Frederic C. Hof

One would think that massacres in Paris and Brussels would sufficiently motivate the West to inject real urgency into the battle against the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) in Syria by deploying professional ground forces to close with and kill the enemy. Air strikes and Kurdish militiamen inflict damage, no doubt about it. But decisive […]

Syria

SyriaSource

Mar 31, 2016

Top News: March 31, 2016

By SyriaSource

– Assad ‘willing to form new government’ with opposition– Russia and US ‘planning military coordination against ISIS in Syria’– ISIS commander killed in drone strike near Raqqa– Losing momentum in delivering aid to Syria, Egeland says– Turkish army ‘ready’ to shell YPG positions if it crosses Azaz-Jarablus line– Turkish army rules out ‘anti-Erdogan coup’

Syria

New Atlanticist

Mar 30, 2016

Poland’s President Seeks Stronger NATO Presence in Europe’s East

By Ashish Kumar Sen

‘Real deterrence means real presence,’ says Polish President Andrzej Duda Poland’s President, Andrzej Duda, wants an enhanced NATO presence—in the form of troops as well as infrastructure—in Central and Eastern Europe to deter Russian aggression, but said his government does not want to isolate Russia or return to the Cold War. Noting Russia’s military buildup […]

European Union International Organizations

SyriaSource

Mar 30, 2016

Top News: March 30, 2016

By SyriaSource

– Russia shipping more to Syria despite withdrawal– Austria will not process all asylum requests– Syrian opposition may end truce, documents lack Assad leaving– Assad thanks UN chief for comments on taking Palmyra– US orders diplomatic, military families out of southern Turkey

Syria

SyriaSource

Mar 29, 2016

The Need for Local Support to Defeat ISIS

By Muhammad Adnan

International coalition air strikes Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) ground assaults have weakened the Islamic State (ISIS), forcing it to fall back in northern Syria. ISIS is adapting as best it can to combination of air and ground assaults and changing its strategy by playing on the inability of Kurdish forces to advance into the Arab […]

Syria

In the News

Mar 29, 2016

Hof Quoted by Business Insider on the Assault on Palmyra

By Frederic C. Hof

Read the full article here.

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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