Featured reading

Syria: Getting Past the Chemicals

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: Getting Past the Chemicals

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: Getting Past the Chemicals

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: Getting Past the Chemicals

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: Getting Past the Chemicals

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

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.

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Content

MENASource

Sep 30, 2013

Syria: Getting Past the Chemicals

By Frederic C. Hof

The Obama administration and its Secretary of State take pride in achieving, with the cooperation of Russia, a chemical weapons framework agreement and a supporting United Nations Security Council resolution.

Syria

MENASource

Sep 30, 2013

The Rational Syrian Rebel

By Faysal Itani

An Islamist rebel coalition is emerging in Syria, deepening the irrelevance of the US-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC) and further eroding US influence in the conflict.

Syria
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, April 19, 2013

NATOSource

Sep 27, 2013

Rasmussen: ‘NATO Could Play a Coordinating Role’ in Syria

By Howard LaFranchi, Christian Science Monitor

[NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh] Rasmussen, whose five-year term ends next summer, sat down in New York with the Monitor to discuss Syria

International Organizations NATO

Press Release

Sep 27, 2013

Jordan’s Queen Rania Asks International Community to “Dig Deeper” in Response to the Refugee Crisis on Jordan’s Border

Her remarks come at the fourth annual Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards dinner, recognizing President Komorowski of the Republic of Poland for his pivotal role in Poland’s extraordinary evolution; Queen Rania Al Abdullah for her advocacy for human rights and promoting cross cultural dialogue; and Maestro Seiji Ozawa for his leadership in the arts. NEW […]

Syria

MENASource

Sep 26, 2013

US Non-Recognition of the Syrian Interim Government

By Frederic C. Hof

Things have not been going well for Syrians opposed to the Assad regime, especially those who favor a united, constitutional, non-sectarian Syria. No news here: this has been the case since 1970, and particularly since March 2011.

Syria
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the Prime Minister of Libya, Ali Zeidan

NATOSource

Sep 26, 2013

NATO Secretary General Holds Talks with Libya, Turkey

By NATO

The Alliance remains open to help the Libyan government rebuild its security sector, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan

International Organizations Libya
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, March 18, 2013

NATOSource

Sep 26, 2013

NATO Still has Vital Role, Secretary General Says

By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY

NATO, the alliance born and bred in the Cold War, has provided good value for the U.S. taxpayer

NATO Security & Defense
F-16 from the Turkish Air Force

NATOSource

Sep 25, 2013

NATO Expects Turkey to Exercise Greater Restraint on Syria

By Lale Kemal, Today's Zaman

Some NATO officials talking to Today’s Zaman recalled that it was not first time that Syrian helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles have violated Turkish air space during their missions to attack the opposition targets.

NATO Security & Defense

MENASource

Sep 25, 2013

Syria: The President Speaks

By Frederic Hof

Using the forum of the United Nations General Assembly, President Barack Obama tried to present a coherent picture of the US approach to a region whose challenges will dominate the balance of his presidency whether he likes it or not.

Syria

NATOSource

Sep 25, 2013

NATO Chief Backs US Threat of Force Against Syria

By Scott Stearns, Voice of America

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the United States should keep up its threat of military action against Syria so as to push forward a deal to end Syria’s chemical weapons program.

International Organizations NATO
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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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