Syria

Devastating Earthquakes in Turkey Could Fundamentally Alter the Political Landscape

Early in the morning of February 6, two earthquakes devastated southeastern Turkey and northern Syria, collapsing buildings across an astonishing radius of several hundred kilometers. More than 22,000 people have died and tens of thousands more are wounded. Days...

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Security Challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean

Introduction On May 2–3 2022, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Syria/Iraq Office and the Foreign Policy Research Institute convened a panel of foreign policy experts for a dialogue on security challenges present in the Eastern Mediterranean. The first day addressed state fragility...

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Introduction: The U.S. War against ISIS: How America and Its Allies Defeated the Caliphate

As the world has watched the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the likelihood of close military contact between the United States and the Russian Federation has increased. Moscow’s invasion and presence in Belarus, combined with the United States’ deployment of...

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Syrian Thaw? Arab Normalization with Damascus Ahead of the Arab League Summit

As Arab states prepare to reconvene this March for the 37th Arab League Summit in Algiers, one topic looms large over the agenda: the readmission of Bashar al-Assad’s Syria, expelled in 2011. An increasing number of regional players have...

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Trends in Terrorism: What’s on the Horizon in 2022?

With the world still reeling from the global COVID-19 pandemic, nearly two years in the making, few know what to expect terrorism trends to look like heading into 2022. However, certain trends from previous years seem likely to continue...

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Russia’s Forever Wars: Syria and the Pursuit of Great Power Status

September 2021 marks the sixth anniversary of the Russian Federation’s intervention in the Syrian civil war. A patient, flexible strategy set against irresolute and muddled Western strategies allowed Moscow to achieve its initial aim of preventing the fall of...

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Engaging Russia over Syria: Managing Peripheral Conflict and Narrowing Interests

  Executive Summary The United States is examining how to narrow core objectives in the Middle East to focus on improving military readiness and increasing the number of low-density, high-demand assets available for deployment in Asia and Europe. To...

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How to Recalibrate U.S. Policy in the Middle East

  Executive Summary Changes in the Middle East have not been sufficiently accounted for in U.S. policy towards the region. Instead, policy has lagged, grounded in anachronism. This report provides five policy recommendations to fix this problem: focus Middle...

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Assessing Syria Policy Leaves More Questions than Answers

Aaron Stein has done a real service in his June 15 piece, Assessing the Biden Administration’s Interim Syria Policy. Syria policy for the last two administrations was at center stage. In many ways, it was also the bane of...

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Assessing the Biden Administration’s Interim Syria Strategy

After taking office in January, the Biden administration began a review of American policy in Syria and the ongoing civil war there. This review sought to turn the page on Trump administration policies, which shifted U.S. priorities in Syria...

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