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Kheder Khaddour
Nonresident Scholar, Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center

about


Kheder Khaddour is a nonresident scholar at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. His research centers on civil military relations and local identities in the Levant, with a focus on Syria.

Previously Khaddour has been a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago. He has conducted independent research for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, and has worked as an independent journalist for Reuters.

Khaddour’s most recent publications include Eastern Expectations: The Changing Dynamics in Syria’s Tribal Regions (co-authored with Kevin Mazur, February 2017); How Regional Security Concerns Uniquely Constrain Governance in Northeastern Syria (March 2017);  Local Wars and the Chance for Decentralized Peace in Syria (March 2017) and Back to What Future? What Remains for Syria’s Displaced People (January 2018).


languages
Arabic, English

All work from Kheder Khaddour

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42 Results
paper
Borders Without a Nation: Syria, Outside Powers, and Open-Ended Instability

In Syria’s border regions, changes in demographics, economics, and security mean that an inter-Syrian peace process will require consensus among main regional powers that Syria must remain united, that no one side can be victorious, and that perennial instability threatens the region.

· September 10, 2024
commentary
Borders Have Undermined Syrian Sovereignty

A forthcoming Carnegie paper will argue that to understand Syria’s future, we will have to focus on the country’s peripheries.

· March 22, 2024
article
Why Iranian Entrenchment in Southern Syria Worries Neighboring Countries

The Syrian regime has struggled to govern Syria’s south, while the Ukraine war has weakened Russia’s influence, making both more reliant on Tehran and its allies in the area. However, this may increase the prospects of conflict between Iran and Israel.

paper
A Fractured Border: Syria, Türkiye, and Cantonization

Ongoing negotiations between Syria and Türkiye may change the outlines of their border regions. But they won't alter the basic reality of cantonization.

commentary
Syria’s Borderline Politics

The Assad regime seeks to reassert control over the frontier with Turkey, in that way becoming regionally relevant again.

· December 20, 2022
commentary
Assad’s Elusive Victory

Syrian officials know that unless they control areas east of the Euphrates, the regime will not be able to stabilize itself.

· October 5, 2022
paper
Border Nation: The Reshaping of the Syrian-Turkish Borderlands

After a decade of civil war, Syria’s border with Turkey is divided. Yet long-term stability will require a peace agreement that treats the border as an indivisible whole.

commentary
Conflict Without End

The complex situation along Syria’s northern border with Turkey makes any settlement there difficult.

· March 29, 2022
article
How the Small Town of Sarmada Became Syria’s Gateway to the World

Idlib is heavily dependent on the delivery of aid, the disruption of which would almost surely create a humanitarian crisis.