Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
In an interview, Azzam al-Kassir discusses Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and what explains its pragmatism in a time of change.
In a bid to gain political ground at home, Ankara has launched multiple military operations in Syria. These have laid the groundwork for a more aggressive, nationalist foreign policy with profound implications for relations with the United States, Russia, and the EU.
The challenge for Western policymakers is to avoid viewing Russian activism in the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa through an exclusively zero-sum lens. The region’s political disarray, complexities, and especially the unpredictability of local rulers all present built-in buffers to Russian influence—as they do to all external players.
Regime forces are staging a comeback in southern Syria, and this time Russia may be helping matters.
The UN Security Council on Friday extended a deal that would allow cross-border humanitarian aid to continue flowing into Syria. This comes after a last minute compromise between the U.S. and Russia promising to help millions of Syrians for the next 12 months.
The complex relations between the state and Islamic institutions in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco shed light on evolving governance and have important implications for Western policies of countering violent extremism and conflict resolution.
Idlib is heavily dependent on the delivery of aid, the disruption of which would almost surely create a humanitarian crisis.
Might the Arab states hand Lebanon over to Syria as compensation for distancing itself from Iran?
Jordan’s bahhara have suffered from a closed border with Syria, but efforts to resume informal trade ties continue.
As border crossings reopen, Jordanian authorities might have to tolerate a degree of informal petty trade with Syria to revive Ramtha's economy and prevent social unrest.
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