The conference will consist of six virtual discussions that will provide a look ahead to 2021, focusing on what Carnegie scholars and other experts believe will be the most significant and challenging issues facing the Middle East and North Africa in their interaction with international actors.

The self-proclaimed Islamic State’s takeover of Mosul in the summer of 2014 was a dark moment for Iraq’s military whose four well-armed divisions rapidly disintegrated.

The Syrian army is plagued by defections, and yet it fights on. That is a testament to the way in which the military has adapted to the challenge of the country’s civil war.