Featured reading

Refugees without Relief in EU-Turkey Migrant Deal

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

Refugees without Relief in EU-Turkey Migrant Deal

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

Refugees without Relief in EU-Turkey Migrant Deal

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

Refugees without Relief in EU-Turkey Migrant Deal

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

Refugees without Relief in EU-Turkey Migrant Deal

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

Public Event
Mon, March 18, 2024 • 1:00 pm ET

The Syria Strategy Project: A public launch

Civil Society
Conflict
Freedom and Prosperity
Human Rights

Online Event
Mon, February 12, 2024 • 12:00 pm ET

One year on: Assessing the February 6th earthquake response in Syria

Civil Society
Economy & Business
Human Rights
International Organizations

Online Event
Fri, May 31, 2024 • 9:30 am ET

Serving communities with disability in conflict contexts

Civil Society
Conflict
Crisis Management
Human Rights

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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.

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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

Mar 23, 2016

Refugees without Relief in EU-Turkey Migrant Deal

By Hossam Abouzhar and Reema Hibrawi

The European Union (EU) and Turkey came to an agreement on migrant travel last week with the components effective as of March 20. What the deal calls “irregular migrants” arriving to Greek islands are refugees who do not qualify or ask for asylum and are to be sent back to Turkey. For every irregular migrant […]

European Union International Organizations

In the News

Mar 23, 2016

Itani in Democracy Journal: Taking on ISIS – and Assad

By Faysal Itani

Read the full article here.

Iraq Syria

Defense Industrialist

Mar 23, 2016

Ospreys across the no-man’s sea

By James Hasik

A new “island strategy” for reaction forces could make carrier and amphibious groups less essential. On Monday, the American Hellenic Institute hosted a luncheon with Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos on the occasion of the rollout of a paper by Dan Gouré’s of the Lexington Institute on “Souda Bay: NATO’s Military Gem in the Eastern Mediterranean.” I […]

China Defense Technologies

SyriaSource

Mar 23, 2016

Top News: March, 23 2016

By SyriaSource

– Syrian army seizes hills overlooking ISIS-held Palmyra– Kerry off to Russia for Syria talks after Brussels attacks– Syrian refugees denied critical health care in Jordan– Syria greenlights aid for most besieged towns, UN says – Turkey launches air strikes against PKK in Iraq, Turkey

Syria

New Atlanticist

Mar 23, 2016

ISIS Strikes Brussels: Is This The ‘New Normal’?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

The terrorist attacks in Brussels represent a collective failure of Western intelligence, underscore the challenges radicalized young Muslims pose to Europe and the United States, but most of all are emblematic of what the Atlantic Council’s Barry Pavel describes as a “new normal.” The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the […]

Cybersecurity European Union

SyriaSource

Mar 22, 2016

Isolation of the Kurds in Syria

By Jiwan Soz

As a result of the political and military changes in Syria after March 2011, Kurds now control three major territories in Syria: Kobani, Afrin, and Hasaka. However, they face political difficulties due to the many schisms among the Kurdish parties, Turkey’s fear that Syrian Kurds will unite their cantons in northern Syria, and deteriorating relations […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Mar 22, 2016

Paris Suspect’s Arrest Likely Hastened Attack in Brussels, says former CIA Director Michael Hayden

By David Ensor and Ashish Kumar Sen

Salah Abdeslam’s arrest last week in connection with the Paris attacks likely sped up terrorists’ plans to strike Brussels, according to Michael Hayden, former Director of the  Central Intelligence Agency and an Atlantic Council board member. With Abdeslam’s arrest following a four-month manhunt, the terrorists likely felt that they were “in a position of either […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Mar 22, 2016

Brussels Bombings Reflect ISIS’ Growing ‘Attack Capability’

By Ashish Kumar Sen

‘When you are dealing with terrorists, absolutely the best defense is a strong offense,’ says Michael Morell, a former Deputy Director of the CIA The bombings in Brussels on March 22 are a reflection of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham’s growing “attack capability” in Europe, according to Michael Morell, a former Deputy Director […]

European Union International Organizations

SyriaSource

Mar 22, 2016

Top News: March 22, 2016

By SyriaSource

– ISIS massacres Kurds in Aleppo town– Syrian Kurds defend federal plan, deny autonomy aim – Regime says Assad’s fate still ‘excluded’ from Syria peace talks– UNHCR will not work in Greek ‘detention centers,’ at EU-Turkey deal

Syria

SyriaSource

Mar 22, 2016

Bombings in Brussels

By Frederic C. Hof

Mass murder in the Brussels airport and metro was almost certainly either Islamic State-planned-and-executed or inspired. Coming as they did very soon after the arrest of a Brussels-based perpetrator of the November 13, 2015 ISIS massacres in Paris—an operation planned in Raqqa, the Islamic State (ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) “capital” in Syria—these Brussels outrages may have […]

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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