Featured reading

New rules of engagement needed as ISIS remains and adapts

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
New rules of engagement needed as ISIS remains and adapts

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
New rules of engagement needed as ISIS remains and adapts

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
New rules of engagement needed as ISIS remains and adapts

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
New rules of engagement needed as ISIS remains and adapts

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

SyriaSource

Jun 11, 2019

New rules of engagement needed as ISIS remains and adapts

By Abdullah Almousa

The Islamic State was crippled this past year in several fierce battles with the international coalition, but is regrouping and the international community needs to recognize this and redevelop its strategy.

Syria

In the News

Jun 10, 2019

Michel Duclos interviewed in France Inter: L’ancien diplomate Michel Duclos est l’invité de Léa Salamé à 7H50. Il publie “La longue nuit syrienne” aux éditions de l’observatoire.

By Michel Duclos

Read More Here

Syria

In the News

Jun 8, 2019

Michele Duclos quoted in Expresy: “the Syrian conflict has triggered a vicious circle”

By Michel Duclos

Read More Here

Syria

In the News

Jun 8, 2019

Michel Duclos quoted in L’express: “le conflit syrien a déclenché un cercle vicieux”

By Michel Duclos

Read More Here

Syria

In the News

Jun 6, 2019

Michel Duclos quoted in Liberation: Pour Al-Assad, tout est permis, il n’y a pas de limite à l’inhumanité

By Michel Duclos

Read More Here

Syria

In the News

Jun 6, 2019

Michel Duclos mentioned in Espirit: La longue nuit syrienne Rencontre avec Michel Duclos

By Michel Duclos

Read More Here

Syria

SyriaSource

Jun 6, 2019

Syria: why it still matters

By Frederic C. Hof

What has happened in Syria—one of history’s most sustained assaults on innocent human life—has not stayed in Syria. The consequences of mass homicide threaten the security of the United States and the entire Western alliance.

Syria

In the News

Jun 6, 2019

Michel Duclos quoted in Yahoo News: Syria regime pummels jihadist-run Idlib as world stays mute

By Michel Duclos

Read More Here

Syria

In the News

Jun 4, 2019

Nader Uskowi quoted in Ahval: Turkey and Russia tussle in Syria’s Idlib

By Nader Uskowi

Read More Here

Russia Syria

Event Recap

Jun 3, 2019

Event Recap: Senior Pentagon Official Warns of Moscow’s Ambitions in the Middle East

By David A. Wemer

This recap originally appeared in The New Atlanticist. Watch the video.  Russia’s support for Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria is just the beginning of Moscow’s designs on the wider Middle East, Kathryn Wheelbarger, acting US assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, warned on May 30.

Iran Russia
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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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