Syria

Syria: The Ground Truth and Geneva

By Frederic C. Hof

At a recent conference, Dr. Steve Heydemann called attention to an important statement by Secretary of State John Kerry that clearly outlines how he sees the relationship between the combat situation on the ground in Syria and the likelihood that a Geneva 2 conference would implement the political transition provisions of the Geneva 1 Final […]

Save the Children of Syria

By Barbara Slavin

While the United States, Russia, and the other parties interested in the civil war in Syria haggle over the ground rules for admission to a Geneva peace conference, Syrian children are succumbing to polio and other horrible diseases and losing precious years of schooling.

Ambassador Fred Hof’s Testimony on Syria before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on October 31, 2013

By MENASource

Chairman Menendez, Ranking Member Corker, Members of the Committee: I am deeply honored by your invitation to testify today on the situation in Syria.  It is a situation for which the word “appalling” barely suffices.  The crisis in Syria has, for more than 30 months, been destroying a country of 23 million people. 

Syria: Ambassador Fred Hof to Testify Thursday Before Senate Foreign Relations Committee

By MENASource

On Thursday, October 31 Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Ambassador Frederic C. Hof will testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Senate Committee will convene two panels to discuss the crisis in Syria.

Syria’s Armed Opposition: Updates from the Field

After a nearly three year conflict, at least 115,000 killed and millions displaced, the Syrian civil war rages, pitting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad against a fragmented armed opposition including the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and others who oppose his rule. Over the last year, the makeup of this armed opposition has shifted to […]

It’s Time for a New Strategy in Syria

By Faysal Itani

Advocates of US military action in Syria and substantial support for the armed opposition have lost the argument in Washington. At the very least, they have lost the full attention of President Barack Obama, which they enjoyed briefly after the August 21 chemical weapons attack.

US to Allies: NATO May be Asked to Assist in Destroying Chemical Weapons in Syria

By Chuck Hagel, Department of Defense

Today we held the first defense ministerial meeting in several years of the NATO-Russia Council.

Syria: The London 11 on Geneva

By Frederic C. Hof

The London 11 core group of the Friends of the Syrian People on October 22 took aim at giving a very skeptical opposition Syrian National Coalition a basis for attending a Geneva peace conference (Geneva 2) in late November.

Syria: Is it Too Late To Do Anything?

By Frederic C. Hof

Those who have long counseled against the United States taking control of the arming of Syrian opposition forces have recently updated their argument: it is now simply too late for Washington to do anything useful, even if it wanted to.

Syria & Sectarianism: Implications (Part II)

By Jonathan Paris

The Arab Spring accentuated two long-standing developments in the region: political Islam and Sunni-Shia sectarianism. While the path of political Islam is less certain following Egypt’s hot summer, the rise of sectarianism, especially in Syria, continues unabated.