Featured reading

President Obama’s Foreign Policy is Based on Fantasy

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

President Obama’s Foreign Policy is Based on Fantasy

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

President Obama’s Foreign Policy is Based on Fantasy

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

President Obama’s Foreign Policy is Based on Fantasy

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

President Obama’s Foreign Policy is Based on Fantasy

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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Content

President Barack Obama discussing Ukraine with national security advisors, Feb. 28, 2014

NATOSource

Mar 3, 2014

President Obama’s Foreign Policy is Based on Fantasy

By Editorial Board of the Washington Post

For five years, President Obama has led a foreign policy based more on how he thinks the world should operate than on reality.

China Russia
President Barack Obama Talking on Phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, March 1, 2014

NATOSource

Mar 3, 2014

Ukraine Crisis Tests Obama’s Foreign Policy Focus on Diplomacy Over Military Force

By Scott Wilson, Washington Post

Ukraine has emerged as a test of Obama’s argument that, far from weakening American power, he has enhanced it through smarter diplomacy, stronger alliances and a realism untainted by the ideology that guided his predecessor.

Syria Ukraine

MENASource

Feb 27, 2014

Syria: Time To Review the Bidding

By Frederic C. Hof

Well first of all, David, this is not a genocide. It’s a horrific civil war that has spilled over and infused the neighboring states. It’s one that we have worked very hard to end, through support to the opposition, through humanitarian assistance, through active and aggressive diplomacy. And David, we have every interest in trying […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Feb 27, 2014

Would the Loss of Ukraine Harden Russia Policy on Syria?

By Barbara Slavin

Why do despots invariably have such atrocious taste?  Ukrainians wandering wide-eyed through the palace outside Kyiv of fugitive Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych simultaneously marveled and gagged at the gilded furniture, stuffed dead cats and gold bathroom fixtures. But their elation at overturning their corrupt, if elected, president could fade quickly if Russia’s elected, if authoritarian, president Vladimir […]

Russia Syria

In the News

Feb 26, 2014

Hof on Syria: “Terror [is] the Regime’s Tactics of Choice”

By Frederic C. Hof

NOW quotes Rafik Hariri Senior Fellow Frederic Hof on UN Security Resolution 2139 which provides humanitarian aid in Syria:

Syria

In the News

Feb 25, 2014

Hof on Saving Syria’s Civilians

By Frederic C. Hof

Rafik Hariri Center Senior Fellow Frederic Hof and co-authors Daniel Serwer and Sarah Grebowski write for The Hill on how saving Syria’s civilians must become the primary focus for concrete international measures:

Syria

MENASource

Feb 25, 2014

As Refugee Crisis Deepens, Jordanians Seek Support

By Alex Simon and Abdulrahman al-Masri

When President Barack Obama announced $1 billion in new loan guarantees to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan earlier this month, he reaffirmed what many here in Jordan have long felt: the Kingdom has been “very generous” in accepting nearly 600,000 Syrian refugees, who have placed “a great strain” on Jordan’s resources.

Syria

In the News

Feb 25, 2014

Itani on New Syria Point Person in Saudi Arabia

By Faysal Itani

The National quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Fellow Faysal Itani on the replacement of Saudi Arabia’s chief Syria advisor:

Saudi Arabia Syria

MENASource

Feb 24, 2014

Syria: Resolution 2139 (2014)

By Frederic C. Hof

On February 22, 2014 the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2139, calling on all Syrian parties to cease attacks against civilians, lift sieges on populated areas, allow the delivery of humanitarian assistance, cease depriving civilians of food and medicine, enable the evacuation of civilians desiring to be evacuated, respect the principle of medical […]

Syria

In the News

Feb 24, 2014

Itani on Rebel-Led Media Offensive Over Yabroud

By Faysal Itani

Syria Direct quotes Rafik Hariri Center Resident Fellow Faysal Itani on the media offensive undertaken by the Syrian opposition as the battle for the rebel-held town of Yabroud continues:

Syria
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Experts

Fellow

Lesley Chavkin

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Economic Statecraft Initiative GeoEconomics Center

Africa Economy & Business

Fellow

Hagar Hajjar Chemali

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Economic Statecraft Initiative GeoEconomics Center

Economic Sanctions Economy & Business

Fellow

Arwa Damon

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Civil Society

Fellow

Michel Duclos

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Conflict Crisis Management

Fellow

Sinan Hatahet

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Economic Sanctions

Fellow

Qutaiba Idlbi

Resident Senior Fellow, Syria

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Economic Sanctions Entrepreneurship
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