Though it has fallen out of the headlines because of the Iran war, Syria has had a dramatically consequential summer. Hosts Alistair Taylor and Matthew Czekaj are joined by MEI Senior Fellow Charles Lister to take stock of recent developments: the dissolution of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Israeli strikes and the friction with Turkey they have exposed, the standoff in Sweida, as well as Damascus’s bid to turn Syria into a trade corridor between the Mediterranean and the Gulf. Is the transition consolidating or fragmenting nearly two years after the fall of the Assad regime?
With sanctions repealed, Syrian policymakers must ensure that growing volumes of credit reach beyond the narrow political and commercial networks that have generally dominated Syrian finance. That will require a credit strategy aimed at sectors and regions historically excluded from formal finance. Syria’s specialized state banks offer an imperfect but ready-made mechanism to do so.
In many ways, the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and the war in Gaza that preceded it seem transformative. After decades of shadow warfare, Iran and Israel have now attacked each other’s homelands directly. And Israel and the United States have joined forces in a genuinely novel way to wage war against Iran.
MEI’s Syria Initiative seeks to provide insightful and grounded research and analysis on all things Syria in order to better inform a wide range of audiences and to help sustain and shape a more meaningful policy-oriented discussion.
The Middle East Institute, The Atlantic Council, and European Institute of Peace collaborate with subject matter experts and policymakers in the US, Europe, and the Middle East to develop a holistic strategy to sustainably forge a pathway to resolving Syria’s crisis.
History weighs heavily on any political movement, and the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria is no different. Over eight decades, the group has adapted to survive. This malleability has kept the Brotherhood, or Ikhwan, alive as an independent organization, but historical experiences have changed it in profound ways and are helping to marginalize it during the current crisis.
Gulf Governments Offer Financing for U.S. Strike on Syria
Like pieces fitting together in a jigsaw puzzle, Arab governments – presumably from the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council – offered to finance a U.S. military strike on Syria, according to comments made by Secretary of State John Kerry during testimony September 4 with the House Foreign Affairs Committee. In an exchange with Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) on the potential cost of U.S. military action in Syria, Kerry said,
The Iraqi Factor in the Syrian Crisis: Catalyst or Inhibitor?
Iraqis who cast their votes in postponed local elections in Anbar and Nineveh on 20 June had a lot on their plates. Beyond issues relating to the provision of services locally, the last weeks before the elections saw massive protests against the central government in Baghdad. The many angry slogans on display included calls for greater autonomy for the Sunni-majority areas of Iraq as well as expressions of solidarity with the mainly Sunni Syrian opposition movement.
The sun is beating down and it isn’t even midday. Clutching the all-important paperwork that will get them coveted UN food vouchers, Syrian refugees look harried. The women pull at their children to hurry through the litter-filled yard of the sports club in the town of Bar Elias that serves as a distribution center for the UN’s hard-pressed World Food Program (WFP). Unlike their men, who head for the shade to smoke and exchange news, the women don’t dally, making for the snaking lines into a crowded hall where they will be called in groups by registration numbers.
Randa Slim, MEI Scholar and adjunct research fellow at the New America Foundation, discusses the implications of Hezbollah's growing role in Syria for Lebanese politics and Lebanon's Shiite community.
The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome MEI Scholar Randa Slim for a discussion on the implications of Hezbollah’s growing role in Syria for Lebanese politics and Lebanon’s Shiite community. Recently returned from a trip to the region, Slim will examine Hezbollah’s potential end game in Syria, and whether Lebanon will be able to resist being drawn into the conflict following Hezbollah’s plunge into the Syrian abyss.
The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome MEI Scholar Randa Slim for a discussion on the implications of Hezbollah’s growing role in Syria for Lebanese politics and Lebanon’s Shiite community. Recently returned from a trip to the region, Slim will examine Hezbollah’s potential end game in Syria, and whether Lebanon will be able to resist being drawn into the conflict following Hezbollah’s plunge into the Syrian abyss.
The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome MEI Scholar Randa Slim for a discussion on the implications of Hezbollah’s growing role in Syria for Lebanese politics and Lebanon’s Shiite community. Recently returned from a trip to the region, Slim will examine Hezbollah’s potential end game in Syria, and whether Lebanon will be able to resist being drawn into the conflict following Hezbollah’s plunge into the Syrian abyss.
The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome MEI Scholar Randa Slim for a discussion on the implications of Hezbollah’s growing role in Syria for Lebanese politics and Lebanon’s Shiite community. Recently returned from a trip to the region, Slim will examine Hezbollah’s potential end game in Syria, and whether Lebanon will be able to resist being drawn into the conflict following Hezbollah’s plunge into the Syrian abyss.
Panel 1: Crisis in Syria: Can Turkey Rise to the Challenge? – MEI's 4th Annual Conference on Turkey
The Middle East Institute Center for Turkish Studies’ Fourth Annual Conference on TurkeyPanel 1: Crisis in Syria: Can Turkey Rise to the Challenge?Volkan Bozkir, Grand National Assembly of TurkeySteve Heydemann, United States Institute of PeaceAnne Richard, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, U.S. Department of StateModerator: Robert Worth, New York TimesJune 14, 2013, 10:00am-11:30 am
Panel 1: Crisis in Syria: Can Turkey Rise to the Challenge? – MEI's 4th Annual Conference on Turkey
The Middle East Institute Center for Turkish Studies’ Fourth Annual Conference on TurkeyPanel 1: Crisis in Syria: Can Turkey Rise to the Challenge?Volkan Bozkir, Grand National Assembly of TurkeySteve Heydemann, United States Institute of PeaceAnne Richard, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, U.S. Department of StateModerator: Robert Worth, New York TimesJune 14, 2013, 10:00am-11:30 am
MEI’s Syria Initiative seeks to provide insightful and grounded research and analysis on all things Syria in order to better inform a wide range of audiences and to help sustain and shape a more meaningful policy-oriented discussion. Drawing on the expertise of over a dozen renowned scholars, the Syria Program covers all aspects of Syria and its ongoing crises – from political, economic, legal, social, ethnic and religious dynamics, to conflict, insurgency and terrorism and the country’s history and possible futures.
