Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs

January 31, 2025 | Bill Roggio |

US airstrike kills Al Qaeda operative in Syria

US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that it killed a senior leader of Hurras al Din, Al Qaeda’s branch in Syria, in an airstrike in Syria on January 30. The strike, which took place less...

January 30, 2025 | Seth J. Frantzman |

Syria appoints new president amid widespread diplomatic engagement efforts

In a move that will have significant implications for Syria and its international relations, Ahmed Sharaa was named the country’s president on January 29. The appointment is expected to provide...

December 23, 2024 | Ahmad Sharawi |

Can Syria’s New Leader Unite Armed Factions Into One Army? 

Syria’s new leader Ahmad al-Sharaa – who also uses the nom-de-guerre Abu Mohammad al Jolani — has pledged to dissolve existing armed factions and integrate their fighters into a newly formed...

December 22, 2024 | Bill Roggio |

US removes $10 million reward for Hayat Tahrir al Sham leader

The US State Department removed the $10 million reward for Abu Mohammad al Jolani, the Specially Designated Global Terrorist who leads Haytat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), which State describes as an Al Qaeda...

July 20, 2023 | Natalie Ecanow, Matthew Zweig

Washington’s four-point plan to take down the Syrian narco-trade

That the Biden administration delivered a strategy for countering the Syrian narco-trade is a welcome development. But absent due pressure on Damascus, the strategy will unlikely have any real effect.

May 9, 2023 | Natalie Ecanow |

Jordan Carries Out Rare Strike in Syria Against the Assad-Backed Narco-Trade

Jordan carried out airstrikes in southern Syria on Monday morning targeting a prominent drug lord and a narcotics factory in nearby Daraa province. Jordanian airstrikes in Syria are extremely rare and...

May 4, 2023 | Bill Roggio |

U.S. State Department officials speak at same conference as dangerous Iran-backed Iraqi terrorist

Senior U.S. State Department officials spoke at the same conference as Qais al Khazali, a known Shia terrorist who is responsible for arming, training and forming the deadly Iranian-backed militias that...

May 3, 2023 | |

Iran Intensifies Ties with Syria

Tehran and Damascus signed long-term cooperation agreements related to oil and other sectors on May 3 during a visit to Syria by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The deals marked...

April 26, 2023 | David Adesnik |

Biden is quietly encouraging Assad’s rehabilitation. He should reverse course.

In the first weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency, Secretary of State Antony Blinken committed to “putting human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy.” Before taking office, Blinken...

December 13, 2022 | Tony Badran |

The Lebanese are Living the Dream

The Lebanese have long had an ideal vision for how their dysfunctional polity should be run. Their perfect arrangement involves the great power(s) — which in the past meant Europe and Russia but today...

September 7, 2022 | Tony Badran |

America’s Regional Integration Scheme Benefits Iran

The Obama-Biden doctrine means that our Mideast allies don’t have to like the Iran deal. They just have to pay for it.

June 17, 2022 | David Adesnik |

Across Party Lines, Senators Tell Biden to Get Tough on Assad

At a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, senators from across the political spectrum pressed the Biden administration to isolate Syria’s criminal regime and fully enforce the...

January 3, 2022 | Andrew J. Tabler, Matthew Zweig

Solving Syria’s Crisis Starts with Sanctioning Iranian Oil

Rather than rehabilitating the Assad regime through willful negligence in its sanctions policy, the administration should escalate economic pressure on the Assad regime’s Iranian enablers to regain a measure of leverage at the negotiating table.

June 7, 2018 | Romany Shaker, Boris Zilberman

Russia and Egypt are Growing Closer

As Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi begins his second term, a new chapter in Egyptian-Russian relations is being written. Disappointed by U.S. policy, Cairo has strengthened its ties with...

May 16, 2017 | Tony Badran |

Assad’s Industrial Killing Machine

On Monday, the State Department revealed that it possessed evidence that Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime was operating an industrial crematorium at the Saydnaya...

March 8, 2013 |

A Star Is Born

The State Department made Samira Ibrahim a heroine.

December 5, 2012 | Lee Smith Tablet |

Have Obama and Bibi Made Up?

If the past few weeks are any guide, it looks like the open feud between Jerusalem and Washington is over.

November 23, 2011 | Lee Smith Tablet |

Split Ends

In March, the Syrian regime began slaughtering peaceful demonstrators in Deraa, a small city close to the Jordanian border. In August, the American president called for the man responsible for th...

June 14, 2011 | World Defense Review

Thinking about Terrorism and Other Security Challenges in Africa

In last week's column, surveying developments in the former Somalia, Sudan, the Maghreb and Sahel, Nigeria and West Africa, and the rest of the continent, I concluded that "Through the c...

May 11, 2011 | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

U.S. State Department Officials Say Human Rights In Iran Will Ultimately Prevail

WASHINGTON -- Observers and rights groups say Iran's human rights record has taken a sharp turn for the worse in recent months, with the hard-line government of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad seeking...