Resolving the Detainee Crisis

The Middle East Institute (MEI), in partnership with the International Center for the Study of Radicalization (ICSR) at King’s College London, is spearheading a high-level initiative aimed at resolving a major security and humanitarian crisis that resulted from the territorial defeat of ISIS in Syria in 2019. Since then, the U.S. and local Syrian partners have been holding more than 9,000 ISIS fighters in 26 makeshift prisons and 45,000 associated family members in secured camps – all representing more than 55 different nationalities.

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About the Director

Charles Lister

Lister is the author of “The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency” (Oxford University Press, 2016). His research focuses on terrorism and insurgency across the Levant. As a senior consultant to the Syria Track II Dialogue Initiative, he managed nearly three years of intensive face-to-face engagement with the leaderships of over 100 Syrian armed opposition groups.

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Program Experts

Advisory Council

The Countering Terrorism & Extremism Program’s Advisory Council is a body of venerable individuals committed to supporting the program’s mission to generate a more locally-rooted understanding of the threats and challenges of today and tomorrow - grasping where they come from and why they come about, and most importantly, how to more effectively and sustainably defeat them.