All Policy Analysis by Matthew Levitt

Join us for a live webcast as scholars examine the potential future course of U.S. policy toward Syria following President Trump's meeting with that country's interim president Sharaa during his recent Gulf trip. Watch live starting at 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.

Tehran cannot enjoy the economic benefits it seeks while under sanction, but some sanctions will necessarily remain in place as long as it continues sponsoring terrorism, leaving negotiators with little choice but to address issues beyond the nuclear program.

Washington should act quickly to facilitate transactions for key sectors such as electricity, food, and rubble removal, lest public discontent lead to widespread protests and possibly government collapse.

Former Israeli and U.S. officials discuss the deal’s timing, provisions, and near-term prospects, outlining the Trump administration’s practical options for advancing peace in Gaza and beyond.

Although some near-term waivers should be issued to help untangle the complicated web of designations and facilitate humanitarian aid, any broader delisting of HTS, Jolani, and others needs to be earned, not gifted.

Even as they celebrate the demise of Assad’s dictatorship, U.S. officials should take a “verify, don’t trust” approach to HTS, judging the group by its actions on the ground before considering the removal of sanctions.

Four experts discuss the agreement’s detailed security provisions, the prospects for successful implementation, and the potential impact on other regional players.

Drawing on lessons from the 2006 war, Israel should focus on strategic outcomes such as better securing its border with Lebanon.

Underworld entities like Foxtrot and Rumba give Tehran cover in its increasingly active campaigns against Jewish, Israeli, and other targets across the continent.

Concerns over the regime’s longstanding R&D on weaponized anesthetics and other PBAs have become more pressing given the high risk of transfer to various hostile proxies.

The group’s ability to reconstitute its military power will depend on Iran restocking its arsenal; in the meantime, it will likely attempt more terrorist attacks abroad.

The group’s false assessment of Israel’s wartime fragility is proving more costly by the day.

To rebalance limited resources, meet great power challenges, and continue forecasting diverse terrorist threats, the U.S. government will need to invest more in capabilities such as machine learning and AI.

Like his recently killed predecessor, Ibrahim Aqil had a long history of murdering Americans, Europeans, Israelis, Lebanese, and others perceived as obstacles to Hezbollah’s ambitions, and his experience as a military and terrorist commander will be difficult to replace.

Israel’s cloak-and-dagger pager ploy was extraordinary, but will it change the group’s calculus?

Three counterterrorism experts and former officials discuss a powerful new interactive tool and its implications for mobilizing international pressure on Iran and its proxies.

In this chapter from the Jihadist Governance and Statecraft compilation, Mattew Levitt examines how Hezbollah exercises authority from outside the halls of formal state power.

Access this powerful tool, which maps over forty-five years of Iranian clandestine operations around the globe.

The 30,000-strong militia has ground forces massed along the frontier, preventing evacuated Israelis from returning home and increasing the risk of a war that both sides would rather postpone for now.

For more than four decades, the late terrorist and military commander Fuad Shukr was at the forefront of the group’s most destabilizing activities, from killing American, European, and Israeli soldiers to procuring advanced weapons from Iran.