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SyriaDemocracy and GovernanceThe Shrinking Space for Kurdish Autonomy in Syria
Feb 26, 2026Gregory AftandilianIn January 2026, clashes between Syrian government forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) resulted in Damascus regaining large parts of territory that h…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaDemocracy and GovernanceSyria’s New Order: Centralization by External Consent
Jan 29, 2026Salim ÇevikOn January 8, 2026, Syrian interim government forces moved into two neighborhoods in Aleppo controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the US-backed coa…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaDemocracy and GovernanceProspects for Syria’s Democratization Under Ahmed al-Sharaa
Nov 21, 2025Patricia KaramThe spectacular and unforeseen fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 upended Syria’s political order and launched a precarious transition. Ahmed al-Sharaa o…
- Viewpoint
SyriaUS Foreign PolicyThe Populist and the Pragmatist: Why Trump Sees a Kindred Spirit in Syria’s al-Sharaa
Nov 11, 2025Daniel NeepAt first glance, US President Donald J. Trump and Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa inhabit very different political universes. Trump, the populist pre…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaDemocracy and GovernanceSyria’s Fragile Integration: The SDF Joins the Army but Autonomy Remains Elusive
Nov 5, 2025Gregory AftandilianAn October 2025 deal between Damascus and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)—which are linked to the Kurdish-dominated autonomous administration in the northea…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaGlobal Health and Health PolicyFrom Syria to Sudan: How Captagon Fuels Instability
Sep 26, 2025Gregory AftandilianSyria’s former Assad regime was the primary producer and chief beneficiary of the Captagon drug trade. Although the new Syrian government led by interim presid…
- Policy Analysis
LebanonEnergy and EconomicsCan Lebanon Be a Hub for Syria’s Reconstruction?
Sep 24, 2025Patricia KaramNearly a year after the end of Syria’s civil war and the fall of the Assad dictatorship, the country has embarked on a long and complex reconstruction process.…
- Viewpoint
SyriaPublic OpinionReading the Syrian Public Opinion Survey 2025: Indicators of Optimism
Sep 19, 2025Daniel NeepThe Arab Opinion Index: Syrian Public Opinion Survey 2025 provides an unusually granular view of political attitudes in a country long considered impervious to…
- Policy Analysis
LebanonRegional Relations and GeopoliticsRumors and Risks: Lebanon’s Political Anxieties and Relations with the New Syria
Aug 12, 2025Patricia KaramIn May 2025, Syria’s transitional President, Ahmed al-Sharaa, confirmed that his government was in indirect communication with Israel, the first time the two s…
- Policy Analysis
TurkeyRegional Relations and GeopoliticsModeration Without Transformation: Why Turkey Is Failing Syria’s Postwar Transition
Aug 8, 2025Salim ÇevikAfter years of investing in Syria’s opposition, Ankara is committed to see the emerging government in Damascus establish a functioning state that can restore b…
- Policy Analysis
Saudi ArabiaRegional Relations and GeopoliticsSaudi Arabia and the New Syria: Constructive Pragmatism?
Aug 7, 2025Kristian Coates UlrichsenA large Saudi business delegation traveled to Syria on July 23-25, 2025, and participated in an inaugural Syrian-Saudi Investment Forum at the presidential pal…
- Policy Analysis
LevantIdentity Politics and SectarianizationFrom Sectarianism to Tribalism: Rebuilding Syria’s Power Structures
Aug 6, 2025Haian DukhanThe July 13–18, 2025 violence between Druze and Bedouin in Syria’s southern al-Suwayda governorate was followed by a massive wave of tribal mobilization across…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaMigrants, Refugees, and IDPsRefugees Return to Syria: Challenges and Uncertainties
Aug 1, 2025Heba GowayedGlobally the human displacement crisis has reached unprecedented heights, with one in every 67 people forced from their homes. During its 14 long years of civi…
- Viewpoint
SyriaIdentity Politics and SectarianizationThe Clashes in al-Suwayda: New Possibilities and Old Ghosts in Syria
Jul 31, 2025Rami G. KhouriThe July 2025 violence in southern Syria’s al-Suwayda region that killed 600 people and displaced thousands more traces its origins back to April 2025, when Su…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaUS Foreign PolicyLifting US Sanctions on Syria: A New Chapter for Damascus and Beirut?
Jul 18, 2025Patricia KaramIn a May 13, 2025, speech in Riyadh, President Donald Trump surprised the world by pledging to lift all US sanctions on Syria. Trump’s unexpected announcement …
- Policy Analysis
SyriaIdentity Politics and SectarianizationSyrian Kurds Attempt to Maneuver Amid New Realities
Jun 27, 2025Gregory AftandilianSyrian Kurds face new realities that have put their experiment in autonomy in serious doubt. Although in March 2025 they signed an agreement with the new Syria…
- Policy Analysis
Saudi ArabiaRegional Relations and GeopoliticsSaudi Arabia’s Calculated Re-engagement in Syria and Lebanon
Apr 8, 2025Unit for Political StudiesOn March 28, the Syrian and Lebanese defense ministers signed an agreement in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, affirming the importance of demarcating borders between the…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaDemocracy and GovernanceChallenges Facing Syria’s Constitutional Declaration
Apr 4, 2025Radwan ZiadehFollowing the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime on December 8, 2024, Syria’s new administration announced on January 29, 2025, the appointment of Ahmed al-Shara…
- Viewpoint
SyriaDemocracy and GovernanceTimeline of the Recent Sectarian Strife on Syria’s Coast
Mar 19, 2025Radwan ZiadehOn March 6, loyalists to Syria’s former President Bashar al-Assad attacked the new government’s troops in the coastal areas of Syria where Assad’s Alawite sect…
- Viewpoint
SyriaRegional Relations and GeopoliticsRevolutionary Legitimacy in Syria: Sharaa as President
Feb 4, 2025Radwan ZiadehIn all transitional periods, it is important to move quickly from revolutionary legitimacy to representative legitimacy, which Syria’s new authorities did by a…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaJustice, Equality, and Human RightsLiberation from the “Human Slaughterhouse”: A Dark History of Imprisonment in Syria
Jan 28, 2025Yara M. AsiAssad's regime imprisoned more than 150,000 people, including some 5,000 children. Multiple reports have emerged of horrific torture, neglect, and murder insid…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaRegional Relations and GeopoliticsRegime Change in Syria and Stabilization: The Limits of Turkey’s Unilateral Action
Jan 24, 2025Salim ÇevikTurkey has played a pivotal role in Syria’s conflict, significantly shaping the trajectory of opposition groups, particularly Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). With…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaRegional Relations and GeopoliticsEgypt Remains Cool to the New Syrian Government
Jan 23, 2025Gregory AftandilianThe Egyptian regime of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi looks upon the recent developments in Syria with a good deal of trepidation. That the Islamist rebel armed group, H…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaMigrants, Refugees, and IDPsPolitical Change and the Fate of Syria’s Refugees Around the World
Jan 16, 2025Heba GowayedOn December 8, the Syrian armed resistance group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) brought the Assad regime to an abrupt end after more than 54 years of brutal rule.…
- Policy Analysis
The Arab WorldHow Will 2025 Be Different in the Middle East? Perspectives on the New Year
Jan 15, 2025Khalil E. Jahshan Daniel Brumberg Dana El Kurd Imad K. Harb Patricia Karam Nabeel A. Khoury Yousef Munayyer Annelle ShelineThe monumental events that took place in the Middle East in 2024 augur radical changes in the region’s geopolitical environment. Israel’s ongoing genocidal war…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaUS Foreign PolicyDamascus Falls, and So Does US Policy
Jan 2, 2025Charles W. DunneWith a presidential transition imminent, US policy on Syria, not to mention the broader Middle East, is in limbo.
- Viewpoint
Palestine/IsraelInternational LawIsrael, Syria, and International Law
Dec 26, 2024Jonathan KuttabThe fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria has provided Israel with yet more opportunities to brazenly tear apart the fabric of international legal norms, f…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaRegional Relations and GeopoliticsTurkey and the Transition to a Post-Assad Regime in Syria
Dec 20, 2024Salim ÇevikTurkey's intervention in Syria and its approach to the post-Assad era reflects a complex interplay of short and long-term objectives shaped by domestic politic…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaConflicts and Conflict ResolutionSyria’s Kurds Facing Dangerous Headwinds
Dec 18, 2024Gregory AftandilianThe rapid collapse of the Assad regime by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) fighters has put Syrian Kurds of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and their autonomous …
- Viewpoint
SyriaConflicts and Conflict ResolutionDeciphering the Quick Collapse of the Assad Regime
Dec 17, 2024Radwan ZiadehMany western media outlets have speculated about the quick collapse of the Syrian regime and its military and security services in their battle against a coali…
- Viewpoint
SyriaDemocracy and GovernanceWill Assad’s Fall Give Iran’s Reformists a New Lease on Life?
Dec 11, 2024Daniel BrumbergFor Iran, the fall of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and what was left of his regime—together with Moscow’s decision to throw its leading Middle East ally to the wind…
- Viewpoint
SyriaDemocracy and GovernanceA New Syria is Born: Hopes and Challenges
Dec 11, 2024Marwa DaoudyDecember 8, 2024, marked a historic turning point in Syria and the Middle East region—a day when the Syrian people achieved what had seemed unattainable: the t…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaDemocracy and GovernanceImplications of Assad’s Fall for Syria and the Region
Dec 10, 2024Heba Gowayed Imad K. Harb Bahraa Hijazi Khalil E. Jahshan Patricia Karam Annelle ShelineThe fall of Damascus marked the end of the regime of Bashar al-Assad, who inherited the presidency from his father Hafez al-Assad in 2000.
- Policy Analysis
TurkeyUS Foreign PolicyTrump’s Election and Future of Turkish-American Relations
Dec 4, 2024Salim ÇevikTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressed clear satisfaction with the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States, quickly congratulating…
- Policy Analysis
IraqViolent ExtremismThe Islamic State Is Trying to Rebound
Aug 29, 2024Gregory AftandilianTaking advantage of the world’s attention to the Israel-Hamas and Israel-Hezbollah conflicts, the so-called Islamic State (IS) is trying to reconstitute itself…
- Policy Analysis
TurkeyRegional Relations and GeopoliticsErdoğan’s Renewed Push for Syria Reconciliation: Domestic Pressures and Regional Dynamics
Jul 25, 2024Salim ÇevikTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made his most explicit appeal yet to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Setting a high bar for the future of relations, E…
- Policy Analysis
LebanonMigrants, Refugees, and IDPsLebanon Needs Help in Dealing with Its Syrian Refugees
Jul 10, 2024Imad K. HarbThe dangerous saber-rattling and bloody confrontations between Hezbollah and Israel have partly obscured serious domestic challenges facing Lebanon and the car…
- Policy Analysis
LevantUS Foreign PolicyUS Troops to Stay in Syria and Iraq but Perhaps Not for Long
Feb 22, 2024Gregory AftandilianIn recent weeks, there have been meetings in Washington and in Baghdad about the presence in Iraq and Syria of US troops, whose official mandate is to aid loca…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaRegional Relations and GeopoliticsDoes Syria Have a Role in the Israel-Hamas Conflict?
Nov 6, 2023Patricia KaramAs the war between Israel and Hamas rages, the Middle East is bracing for a wider, multi-front regional conflict that will have serious repercussions for the g…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaIdentity Politics and SectarianizationSyrian Kurds in an Increasingly Precarious Position
Oct 18, 2023Gregory AftandilianSyrian Kurds associated with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are increasingly seeing their autonomous entity in northeastern Syria threatened by internal an…
- Policy Analysis
LebanonMigrants, Refugees, and IDPsThe Plight and Politics of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
Aug 8, 2023Patricia KaramWhen Syria’s regime was readmitted into the Arab League and its president, Bashar al Assad, rehabilitated after years of ostracism for his brutal crackdown on …
- Policy Analysis
North AfricaSecurity and DefenseThe Fate of the Wagner Group in Syria, Libya, and Sudan
Jul 18, 2023Gregory AftandilianThe failed mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin has put the fate of his Wagner Group doubt, not only in Ukraine but in several Arab states as well.
- Policy Analysis
Saudi ArabiaRegional Relations and GeopoliticsThe Jeddah Arab League Summit: MBS’s Final Crowning
May 31, 2023Imad K. HarbThe 32nd Arab League Summit was little more than the final crowning of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince as the leader of the current Arab political order.
- Policy Analysis
SyriaJustice, Equality, and Human RightsWhat Does Normalization with Assad Mean for Accountability and a Political Resolution?
Apr 18, 2023Patricia KaramAgainst the backdrop of Syria’s impending return to the Arab fold, French judges this month ordered three high-ranking Syrian intelligence officers to stand tr…
- Policy Analysis
TurkeyConflicts and Conflict ResolutionObstacles to a Turkey-Syria Reconciliation
Mar 29, 2023Salim ÇevikSyrian President Bashar al-Assad paid an important visit to Moscow in mid-March 2023. One of the main agenda items was the Turkish-Syrian reconciliation that R…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaRegional Relations and GeopoliticsArab States Are Normalizing with Syria’s Assad Regime
Mar 28, 2023Gregory AftandilianTaking advantage of the devastating earthquake that ravaged parts of northwestern Syria in February, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has tried to use the trag…
- Policy Analysis
The Arab WorldUS Foreign PolicyUS Middle East Policy: The Trump-Biden Doctrine in Action
Mar 22, 2023Charles W. DunneAll US presidents, it seems, need their own foreign policy “doctrine.” President James Monroe famously started the trend in 1823, and many others—Truman, Eisen…
- Policy Analysis
LebanonRegional Relations and GeopoliticsLebanon and Syria and the Saudi-Iran Detente
Mar 21, 2023Imad K. HarbThe recent China-brokered agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran is expected to have a de-escalating effect on many issues in the Midd…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaMigrants, Refugees, and IDPsPolitics, Displacement, and the Human Toll of the Recent Earthquake in Syria
Mar 15, 2023Heba GowayedOn February 6, 2023, the earth shifted at the fault line that runs along the Turkey-Syria border, resulting in a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which was followed j…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaSecurity and DefenseSyrian Kurds Are Hoping for, but Not Banking On, Continued US Partnership
Feb 24, 2023Gregory AftandilianThe massive earthquake that struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria has given the Syrian Kurds a reprieve from a possible Turkish military invasion of ar…
- Policy Analysis
LevantDemocracy and GovernanceTurkey’s Presidential Election in the Shadow of Devastating Earthquakes
Feb 22, 2023Mustafa GurbuzThe devastating February 6 earthquakes in Turkey, which caused nearly 45,000 deaths in Turkey and Syria and rendered hundreds of thousands of people homeless, …
- Policy Analysis
SyriaMigrants, Refugees, and IDPsErdoğan’s Rapprochement with Assad Spells Trouble for Syrian Refugees
Feb 1, 2023Nabeel A. KhouryTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s interest in a rapprochement with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is the latest chapter in his delicate domestic and r…
- Policy AnalysisSyriaGlobal Health and Health Policy
The Captagon Problem in Saudi Arabia and Other Gulf States
Sep 22, 2022Gregory AftandilianOver the past decade, the amphetamine fenethylline, widely known by the brand name Captagon, has increasingly become the drug of choice among the youth in Gulf…
- Policy AnalysisSyriaUS Foreign Policy
Biden’s Syria Policy: Steady Non-commitment and Persistent Failure
Sep 20, 2022Nabeel A. KhouryThe Biden administration’s Syria policy, as well as its policy for the Middle East in general, stems from priorities and practices set in place during the eigh…
- Policy Analysis
TurkeyMigrants, Refugees, and IDPsSyrian Refugees in Turkey Face an Uncertain Future
Jul 12, 2022Mustafa GurbuzIn the early hours of July 1, 2022, Turkish sources reported on a story of undocumented immigrants fleeing the Osmaniye Refugee Camp in southern Turkey. That s…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaThe War in UkraineThe Ukraine Crisis Further Complicates Foreign Intervention in Syria
Jun 15, 2022Gregory AftandilianDespite early assessments that Russia would begin drawing down its military forces in Syria due to its need for more troops in the Ukraine invasion, it appears…
- Policy Analysis
IranSecurity and DefenseIsrael-Iran Shadow War in Syria intensifies Amid International Developments
Mar 23, 2022Gregory AftandilianThe ongoing military conflict between Israel and Iran (along with Iran-backed Shia forces like Hezbollah) in Syria show no signs of easing despite the Russia-U…
- Policy Analysis
LevantViolent ExtremismIs the Islamic State Rebounding in Syria and Iraq?
Feb 25, 2022Gregory AftandilianThe nearly two-week siege in January of the Ghuwayran prison and parts of the town of Hasaka by fighters of the so-called Islamic State (IS) in northeastern Sy…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaRegional Relations and GeopoliticsRehabilitation of the Assad Regime
Dec 15, 2021Radwan ZiadehWith the approaching date of the next Arab Summit to be hosted by Algeria in March 2022, some member countries of the League of Arab States have become more vo…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaRegional Relations and GeopoliticsRussia’s Multifaceted Policy in Syria
Nov 23, 2021Gregory AftandilianMore than six years after Russia began its military intervention in the Syrian civil war, President Vladimir Putin has chalked up some important victories amid…
- Viewpoint
SyriaConflicts and Conflict ResolutionThe Failure of Syria’s Constitutional Committee
Nov 16, 2021Radwan ZiadehIn October 2019, Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres enthusiastically welcomed the creation of Syria’s Constitutional Committee that would…
- Viewpoint
SyriaRegional Relations and GeopoliticsSyria’s Return to the Arab League Is Imminent
Oct 5, 2021Imad K. HarbA decade after the start of the Syrian revolution against authoritarian rule and the suspension of Syria’s membership in the League of Arab States, the country…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaConflicts and Conflict ResolutionSouthwestern Syria Tests US-Russia Cooperation
Sep 22, 2021Joe MacaronThe US-Russian agreement of July 2017 that led to a fragile stability in southwestern Syria has recently unraveled, testing President Joe Biden’s approach in S…
- Viewpoint
SyriaUS Foreign PolicyRearranging American Priorities in Syria
Jul 27, 2021Radwan ZiadehOn July 17, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad took his oath of office in front of parliament after winning the presidential election with 95 percent of the popu…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaDemocracy and GovernanceSyria’s Presidential Election and the Absence of the American Role
Jun 1, 2021Radwan ZiadehOn May 26, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad won a fourth seven-year term in a practically uncontested election. No one was surprised by the original announceme…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaUS Foreign PolicyThe Biden Administration and the GCC Rapprochement with Damascus
May 27, 2021Joe MacaronWith Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on his way to a fourth term in the Syrian presidential election held this week, Moscow is expected to resume its diplomat…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaConflicts and Conflict ResolutionA Decade of War in Syria: Political Transition Is Still the Answer
Feb 22, 2021Radwan ZiadehThe middle of March marks the tenth anniversary of the civil war in Syria. It began in the south of the country when regime forces resorted to violence to quel…
- Policy Analysis
SyriaIdentity Politics and SectarianizationKurdish Dilemmas in Syria
Jan 13, 2021Gregory AftandilianThe Syrian Kurds, who constitute about 10 percent of Syria’s population, are at a crossroads, trying to preserve their shrunken statelet in the northeastern pa…
