Policy Analysis

As international support lags and the situation in al-Hawl and the surrounding areas deteriorates, repatriation and humanitarian assistance are increasingly vital.

Iran is building military, social, and economic influence among eastern Syrian tribes, which are poised to invade SDF-controlled regions in the event of a U.S. withdrawal.

Recent protests in Daraa demonstrate that Assad’s hold over regime-controlled areas are not as total as they appear.

A village of women in Eastern Syria are upholding the core political beliefs of the Kurdish minority there.

There are several steps the Biden administration can take to strengthen its allies in Syria and promote a peaceful solution.

Interviews reveal how Syrian officials are extorting their people.

Facing Turkish, Iranian, and Islamist threats, Kurds in Iraq and Syria are hoping for more U.S. support than they saw under the Trump administration.

After the UN's failures regarding Assad, Syrians need a more forceful option to restore their dignity and rights.

ISIS publications reveal the geographic location and concentration of its counter-espionage operations.

This snapshot of reactions should inform leadership in Washington to focus on increasing its commitment to supporting allies and punishing adversaries.

After years of military cooperation in a conflict that has displaced millions of Syrians, the Assad regime and Russia arranged for a two-day conference that began on November 11 in Damascus, which they presented as a means to move forward on the issue of Syrian refugees and displaced persons. In

On July 29, Wassim al-Qattan—a Syrian businessman who owns several Damascus-based companies and who received construction contracts to develop Syrian regime-owned malls and hotels around the city celebrated on Facebook what he called his latest “National Medal.” “How profound we feel today as we receive the third package of medals

Two weeks ago, Turkish authorities released the Syrian brigadier general Ahmed Rahal—who had originally defected from the Syrian regime—after months of detention that observers claim is due to his strong and public critique of the Syrian National Army and the policies of Turkish-backed forces in the liberated areas. Rahal’s detention

Before the coronavirus pandemic, I had travelled to northeastern Syria twice in twelve months. On my most recent trip in Manbij, I found myself walking wide-eyed into a hardware store like any I would have frequented at home in the United States. Various electrical conduits and fittings for outlet boxes

Air strikes attributed to Israeli forces have increased since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, with a particularly steep rise in the last two years. This increase in kinetic activity represents an Israeli attempt to impede Iran's military entrenchment in Syria and disrupt the arms shipment route between Syria

Kurds in Syria’s northeastern region face an uncertain and threatening future, especially now that most American forces have withdrawn from the country. A sporadically belligerent Russian military presence, coupled with Turkish aggression against U.S.-backed Kurdish forces, has produced an increasingly precarious situation for Kurds in the area. Even Kurdish civilians

Upon each of my past arrivals in Syria, I’ve entered into landscapes of rolling hillocks and oil wells. Stippled across the land, some wells toiled slowly while others—rusted and abandoned—lay motionless, languishing along the buckled pavement of northeastern roads leading toward the city of Qamishlo. Reminiscent of the Texas Panhandle

Over the last four years, Kurds in Iran have watched Kurdish communities in Syria and Iraq continue to suffer losses at the hands of hostile forces, disoriented by the turbulent shifts in Washington’s decision-making. It once seemed that the United States would support change in Iran beneficial to the country’s

The ramifications of the application of the Caesar Civilian Protection Act, known as the Caesar Act, are becoming apparent in the wave of fear and anxiety that hit Syrian and Arab businessmen and traders who deal with the Syrian regime and who fear international sanctions that have begun to affect

Shoresh Khani presents a coherent argument for greater attention to the situation at al-Hawl. Satisfied with the defeat of ISIS, world decision makers seem not much engaged in the residual question of al-Hawl. Some international court involvement is suggested, and de-radicalization efforts are anticipated. If the goal is that ISIS