Featured reading

Syria: “Military Pressure Particularly May Be Necessary”

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

Syria: “Military Pressure Particularly May Be Necessary”

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

Syria: “Military Pressure Particularly May Be Necessary”

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

Syria: “Military Pressure Particularly May Be Necessary”

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

Syria: “Military Pressure Particularly May Be Necessary”

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

Online Event
Thu, December 19, 2024 • 12:30 pm ET

Putin loses in Syria. Is Russia in retreat?

Conflict
Europe & Eurasia
Middle East
Russia

Online Event
Tue, May 21, 2024 • 10:30 am ET

Exploring investment opportunities in northwest Syria

Conflict
Economic Sanctions
Economy & Business
Financial Regulation


Event Recap

Mar 29, 2024

Launching the Syria Strategy Project

By
JP Reppeto and Charles Johnson

On March 18, 2024, the Atlantic Council’s Syria Project, the Middle East Institute’s Syria Program, the European Institute of Peace, and Madaniya Civil Society Network launched the Syria Strategy, an intensive process of engagement with subject matter experts and policymakers in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East to develop a holistic strategy to […]

Civil Society
Conflict

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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 6, 2015

Syria: “Military Pressure Particularly May Be Necessary”

By Frederic C. Hof

In his March 5, 2015 press availability in Riyadh with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, Secretary of State John Kerry went out of his way to douse regional speculation (often articulated in the form of total certainty) that the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) entails cooperation with the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Syria

In the News

Mar 6, 2015

Itani: The United States Needs to Rethink Its Anti-ISIS Approach in Syria

By Faysal Itani

Rafik Hariri Center Resident Fellow Faysal Itani writes for TIME on why the US-led air campaign against ISIS in Syria is undermining its long-term objectives:

Syria
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visiting the US Patriot unit deployed in Turkey, Oct. 10, 2014

NATOSource

Mar 6, 2015

US Senator: NATO Should Deploy Forces to Secure Turkey’s Border with Syria

By Dan Coats, Politico

Helping combat ISIL means a dramatic, full-scale effort to help our fellow NATO member state — Turkey — secure its border with Syria

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Mar 4, 2015

Vietnam on the Tigris and Euphrates?

By Harlan Ullman

For those of us old enough to recall the Vietnam War, fact and reality were obscured and mangled by successive White Houses anxious to reach the delusional “light at the end of the tunnel.” Tragically, at the end of the tunnel lay a quagmire that consumed 58,000 American and countless Vietnamese lives. In the highly complex […]

Iraq Syria

In the News

Mar 3, 2015

Slavin: United States Still Considering No-Fly Zone for Syria

By Barbara Slavin

South Asia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Barbara Slavin writes for Al Monitor on whether the United States will implement a no-fly zone in Syria to protect fighters trained to defeat ISIS:

Syria

MENASource

Mar 2, 2015

Is ISIS Still “Remaining and Expanding”?

By Jeppe Sorensen

Kurdish forces in late January expelled fighters from the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIS) from Kobani in northern Syria. They later retook villages surrounding the city, reportedly without much fighting. With the radical organization’s losses mounting, observers of the Syrian conflict should ask the question: “What is next for ISIS?”

Syria

MENASource

Feb 26, 2015

ISIS Recruitment Tactics Stumble

By Mona Alami

As the pressure on the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) mounts against the backdrop of coalition attacks and a Kurdish offensive in Syria’s Raqqa region, militant recruitment has become a pressing matter for the radical organization, which has lost many fighters in clashes around Iraq and Syria.

Iraq Syria

In the News

Feb 25, 2015

Hof on Abduction of Syrian Christians by ISIS

By Frederic Hof

Rafik Hariri Center Senior Fellow Frederic Hof joins BBC World News to discuss the recent abduction of ninety Syrian Christians by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham:

Syria

MENASource

Feb 23, 2015

Syria: Forget About Arming the Opposition?

By Frederic C. Hof

My friend and former governmental colleague Robert Ford was recently depicted in a newspaper article as having done a U-turn on the question of arming Syrian nationalists currently resisting both the Assad regime and the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL). Ambassador Ford will, I suspect, take pen to paper soon to present a more nuanced […]

Syria

MENASource

Feb 17, 2015

Syria: Is Assad Crucial to Defusing the Conflict?

By Frederic C. Hof

In a word: yes. Bashar al-Assad is absolutely crucial to defusing the conflict in Syria. United Nations Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura attracted considerable controversy and criticism for having stated the obvious.

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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