As part of its efforts to provide a nuanced understanding of the conflict’s dynamics and trends, the ‘Wartime and Post-Conflict in Syria’ (WPCS) team of the Middle East Directions Programme has collectively reflected on the mass of research on Syria Read More …
MEDirections is delighted to share a new Policy Brief from the Wartime and Post Conflict in Syria project (WPCS). While analysts regularly point out that Russia is seizing Syrian’s natural resources including phosphates as a compensation for its costly military Read More …
MEDirections is delighted to share a new Working Paper by Patrick Haenni and Jerôme Drevon. This paper was originally published in English on the 3rd of February 2021. The territories ruled by the Syrian opposition are being reorganised. The leaderless revolution has given way to Read More …
Between 2016 and 2019, Turkey launched three military operations in the northern Aleppo countryside (Operation Euphrates Shield), Afrin (Operation Olive Branch) and the northern Raqqa countryside – western al-Hasakah (Operation Peace Spring). This study addresses the questions of whether there Read More …
MEDirections is delighted to share a new Research Project Report from the Syria Transition Challenges Project, part of the Syria Initiative. This paper was originally published in English on the 1st of December 2020. At its core, the patchwork ‘reconciliation’ strategy in southern Read More …
Two years on from the Syrian regime’s military recapture of the entirety of Rural Damascus, the fates of influential local actors, including communal dignitaries, religious clerics, businessmen, civil society activists and military commanders, appear to vary from area to area Read More …
Two years after the end of their mandates in 2018, the formation of new boards of directors of Syrian chambers of commerce in September and October 2020 shows significant changes in the regime’s businessmen networks. These elections saw a rise Read More …
MEDirections is delighted to share a new Research Project Report from the Syria Transition Challenges Project, part of the Syria Initiative. This paper was originally published in Arabic on 19 October 2020. It is now available in English. In Syria’s context of political Read More …
MEDirections is delighted to share a new Research Project Report from the Wartime and Post Conflict in Syria project (WPCS). This paper was originally published in Arabic on 28 July 2020. It is now available in English. In 2013, President Bashar Read More …
The study seeks to understand the situation of the labour force in Syria and the reasons why a labour movement and collective labour action did not emerge during the uprising or in the years following it. What tools does the Read More …
