Featured reading

Stein: The YPG: America’s New Best Friend?

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

Stein: The YPG: America’s New Best Friend?

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

Stein: The YPG: America’s New Best Friend?

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

Stein: The YPG: America’s New Best Friend?

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

Stein: The YPG: America’s New Best Friend?

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

Jun 28, 2015

Stein: The YPG: America’s New Best Friend?

By Aaron Stein

Rafik Hariri Center Nonresident Fellow Aaron Stein cowrites for Al Jazeera on why despite the fact that the Kurds are good allies on paper, alienating Syria’s central regions may cause more trouble for the United States:

Syria

In the News

Jun 26, 2015

Itani on Lebanon’s Political Fragility

By Faysal Itani

Global Risk Insights quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Fellow Faysal Itani on the coalition holding Lebanon together as the war in Syria drags on: 

Middle East Syria

SyriaSource

Jun 24, 2015

Syria: Civilians Pay the Price

By Frederic C. Hof

Washington’s strategy to degrade and destroy the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) in Syria entails a significant contribution from Syrian civilians: their lives.

Syria

In the News

Jun 24, 2015

Itani on #SummerinSyria

By Faysal Itani

BuzzFeed News compiles tweets on Syria’s #SummerinSyria campaign, including one from Rafik Hariri Center Resident Fellow Faysal Itani:

Syria

SyriaSource

Jun 23, 2015

Seizing the Opportunity for a Druze Realignment

By Faysal Itani and Abigail Kukura

Recent rebel victories in southern Syria highlight the role of the Druze in the Syrian conflict. As the war’s frontlines shift towards the minority’s core territories, the Druze will come under pressure to redefine their stance toward the rebellion.

Syria

In the News

Jun 23, 2015

Itani on Kurdish Victories

By Faysal Itani

The Telegraph quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Fellow Faysal Itani on how the Kurds’ rapid advance into Raqqa province has defied expectations of a protracted battle between Kurdish and ISIS fighters:

Syria

MENASource

Jun 22, 2015

The Implications of a Kurdish Victory Over ISIS in Tal Abyad

By Aaron Stein

Last week, Kurdish forces fighting for the Syria-based Democratic Union Party (PYD) wrested control of the border town of Tel Abyad from the Islamic State. The seizure of the town cut off a key supply line to the Islamic State’s de-facto capital in Raqqa and allowed for the unification of two Kurdish controlled cantons, Kobane […]

Syria Turkey

MENASource

Jun 17, 2015

Protecting Refugees in Protracted Emergencies in the Middle East

By Bill Frelick

Um Ghassan was eleven in 1948 when her family fled Haifa. They joined the Palestinian exodus to Jordan, and later moved to Syria. “They welcomed us like we were their relatives,” she said. Decades later, when fighting broke out in Syria in 2011, Um Ghassan initially stayed in her house. “I would never leave my […]

Iraq Libya

MENASource

Jun 17, 2015

Fading Christianity in Syria and Iraq

By Knox Thames

The quagmires of Syria and Iraq have forced millions to flee, both internally displaced people and new refugees escaping across borders. The international community is failing to meet their needs, with UN agencies announcing cuts in food programs due to a lack of funds.

Iraq Syria

SyriaSource

Jun 16, 2015

The Limits of ISIS Expansion

By Faysal Itani

Shortly after losing Tikrit to Iraqi security forces and militia, the Islamic State seized Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s Anbar province, and captured the ancient city of Palmyra in central Syria just a few days later.

Iraq 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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