Featured reading

General Allen on Building a Syrian Force

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

General Allen on Building a Syrian Force

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

General Allen on Building a Syrian Force

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

General Allen on Building a Syrian Force

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

General Allen on Building a Syrian Force

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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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

MENASource

Oct 28, 2014

General Allen on Building a Syrian Force

By Frederic C. Hof

Special Presidential Envoy General John Allen did his best in an Asharq Al-Awsat interview to square the circle of an unsustainable Syria policy in the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS, ISIL, or the Islamic State).

Syria

In the News

Oct 27, 2014

Hof on Obama’s “Goldilocks” Approach on ISIS and Syria

By Frederic C. Hof

Business Insider quotes Rafik Hariri Center Senior Fellow Frederic Hof on President Obama’s strategy regarding the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham as well as the ongoing crisis in Syria:

Syria

MENASource

Oct 22, 2014

Syria’s Role in the Battle Against ISIS

By Frederic C. Hof

For over three years the Obama administration viewed the struggle for Syria as something well worth avoiding. Even as Assad-regime atrocities piled the bodies high and drove millions from their homes—enabling an aggressively murderous caliphate to arise in the east while Iran, Hezbollah, and their Syrian client solidified a grip on the west—the administration focused […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Oct 22, 2014

Turkey Moves Toward Helping Syria’s Kurds—and Calming Its Own

By Sabine Freizer

Ankara’s Handling of Syrian War Has Revived Its Own Kurdish Conflict Turkey’s promise Monday to let Iraqi Kurdish guerrillas cross its border to defend the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani against the Islamist army of ISIS provides a rare sign of hope for saving Turkey’s moribund peace process with its own Kurds. Turkey’s refusal until […]

Syria Turkey

MENASource

Oct 21, 2014

Why Zakaria’s Strategy in Syria is Wrong

By Faysal Itani and Michael Weiss

Fareed Zakaria and Leslie Gelb both have made what they think are bold and unfashionable proposals for U.S. policy in Syria without bothering to realize that their prescriptions have become the new conventional wisdom.

Syria

In the News

Oct 20, 2014

Hof on Political Opposition in Syria

By Frederic C. Hof

Foreign Policy quotes Rafik Hariri Center Senior Fellow Frederic Hof on the effectiveness of the Syrian moderate opposition: 

Syria

In the News

Oct 20, 2014

Itani: Doubling Down on Disaster in Syria

By Faysal Itani

Rafik Hariri Center Resident Fellow Faysal Itani cowrites for Politico on the different policy prescriptions outlined by political pundits such as CNN’s Fareed Zakaria: 

Iraq Syria

MENASource

Oct 16, 2014

Dealing With Syria’s Fractious Opposition

By Frederic C. Hof

Reports out of Istanbul detail yet another episode of Syrian opposition disunity: this time over the selection of a prime minister to head an Interim Government long-since established by the Syrian National Coalition.

Syria

In the News

Oct 16, 2014

Itani on the Fight against ISIS

By Faysal Itani

Syria Deeply quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Fellow Faysal Itani on the effect that the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham has had on moderate rebels in Syria: 

Syria

MENASource

Oct 15, 2014

Syria: A Change of Administration Policy?

By Frederic C. Hof

In his remarks to Chiefs of Defense at Andrews Joint Base on October 14, President Barack Obama may have hinted at a significant Syria-related policy change in the fight against ISIS.

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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