Syria

Introduction Amid the escalating Iran-US-Israel war, Iraq is increasingly becoming one of its central fronts, bringing back into sharp focus a chronic structural dilemma: the role of militias embedded within the state and the consequences of their conduct for...

State of Play Northeast Syria, for long the most stable corner of the country, has been plunged into turmoil following a military campaign by the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Following days of fighting, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)...

  On a cool night in April 2024, the Iranian military surprised American and coalition war planners. It launched a massive salvo of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles at Israel, following an Israeli air attack on an Iranian...

Nearly a year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime at the hands of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its rebel allies in December 2024, Syria remains in a fragile and uncertain transition. A mosaic of ethnic and religious...

In the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military campaign in Gaza and beyond, the Middle East is undergoing a profound geopolitical restructuring. Spearheaded by Israeli initiative and broadly endorsed by Washington, a...

The unexpected fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8 has put Syria in the spotlight once again. Following over a decade of conflict, the killing of hundreds of thousands of Syrians, the displacement of around half of the...

Philip Wasielewski Bashar al-Assad’s fall from power has ended the Baath Party’s and Assad dynasty’s long rule over Syria. The Baath Party is secular, but the Assads are Alawites, a Shia-sect found mostly along Syria’s coast. Today, the force...

Amid escalating regional tensions since October 7 last year and reports of American contemplations of troop withdrawal from Syria, the US administration should reassess its Syria policy, and consider a long-term, minimalist presence coupled with robust political and diplomatic...

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently arrived in Washington seeking to persuade the White House and Congress to successfully negotiate legislation that would free up $60 billion to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian forces.  He delivered his remarks...

Editor’s Note: This article is the sixth annual “Trends in Terrorism” essay from global counterterrorism expert and FPRI non-resident Senior Fellow Colin Clarke.    On the morning of October 7, Hamas terrorists breached the border fence between Gaza and...