Featured reading

A Terrorist Attack on NATO’s Doorstep

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

A Terrorist Attack on NATO’s Doorstep

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

A Terrorist Attack on NATO’s Doorstep

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

A Terrorist Attack on NATO’s Doorstep

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

A Terrorist Attack on NATO’s Doorstep

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

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

Bremain vs Brexit

Mar 25, 2016

A Terrorist Attack on NATO’s Doorstep

By Stefano Stefanini

The March 22 terrorist attacks on Brussels—in the heart of the European Union’s citadel—are an attack on all of Europe. Belgium has become a frontline state in a war about which Europe is in denial. The European Union, established to prevent war from ever again breaking out in Europe, is loath to call the terrorist […]

European Union International Organizations

SyriaSource

Mar 25, 2016

Top News: March 25, 2016

By SyriaSource

– North Korea troops in Syria to help Assad– Fighting against ISIS rages in central Syrian town of Palmyra– ‘No Drama, No Walkouts’ and no progress in Syria peace talks– PKK attack on military station kills three soldiers– Russia to “unfreeze” relations with Turkey if takes responsibility

Syria

MENASource

Mar 25, 2016

Is ISIS Decentralizing?

By Mona Alami

Judging from the Islamic State’s (ISIS or ISIL) recent killing spree, the terrorist organization has demonstrated its ability to maintain it operational capacity to target the West. This week’s coordinated attacks in Brussels claimed by ISIS resulted in over 31 deaths and 200 injured attacks, taking place against the backdrop of threats by the organization […]

Iraq Syria

SyriaSource

Mar 24, 2016

Locals in Idlib Take on the Nusra Front

By Ali Melhem

There’s growing hostility between al-Qaida’s branch in Syria and the locals of Idlib. After attempting to disrupt popular protests in the streets of Maarat al-Numan last week, the insurgent group then pushed a popular branch of the Free Syrian Army out of town

Syria

Report

Mar 24, 2016

The Kremlin’s actions in Syria: Origins, timing, and prospects

By Frederic C. Hof, Vladislav Inozemtsev, Adam Garfinkle, Dennis Ross

Resolution to the conflict in Syria requires an understanding of the Russian intervention, involvement, and interest therein. Putin’s interest in regaining the “influence that the Soviet Union once enjoyed in the Middle East” shapes how the West must engage Russia, as Ambassador John E. Herbst highlights in The Kremlin’s Actions in Syria, a new report […]

Arms Control Conflict

Bremain vs Brexit

Mar 24, 2016

Europe’s Big Challenge: Alienated Populations + ISIS

By Mitch Hulse

Terrorist attacks against the West will continue as long as Europe fails to integrate Muslim communities into its fold and organizations like the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham maintain their ideological stranglehold over these disaffected communities, according to senior fellows at the Atlantic Council. “These attacks are going to continue as long as two […]

Syria Western Europe

New Atlanticist

Mar 24, 2016

Europe Must Respond Strategically to Brussels Attacks

By H.A. Hellyer

Foreigners in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) might have ordered the attacks on Brussels, but the perpetrators apparently were all Europeans. At least thirty-four people were killed and more than 250 wounded on March 22—the numbers are still being counted. Brussels has just faced its own equivalent of London’s July 7 […]

Syria Western Europe

SyriaSource

Mar 24, 2016

Top News: March 24, 2016

By SyriaSource

– Syria army fights ISIS at gates of Palmyra – Syria war parties to agree on UN basic principles paper – Kerry tells Russia he wants further reduction in Syria violence – Turkey informed Belgium over attacker’s terrorist links

Syria

New Atlanticist

Mar 23, 2016

On Brussels Bombings: ‘The Moment Has Come When We Need to Act,’ says Kosovo’s President Atifete Jahjaga

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Kosovo’s President, Atifete Jahjaga, has called on governments in countries facing the threat of Islamic terrorism to set aside political differences and ramp up intelligence sharing and cooperation with their neighbors. “The moment has come when we need to act,” Jahjaga said in an interview on March 23. Jahjaga spoke on a visit to the […]

European Union International Organizations

SyriaSource

Mar 23, 2016

The Siege Economy of Eastern Ghouta

By Youssef Sadaki

Two and a half years of blockades and at times complete siege on areas Eastern Ghouta have left the local population without essential food, water, electricity, and fuel. As prices rise, merchants and military opposition factions have exploited the situation to profit from the siege, seizing the best and most crucial supplies for battalion members […]

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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