Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Through spring and summer 2011, as protesters threaten the Syrian dictatorship, no one yet knows when and whether the regime of Bashar al-Assad will fall. At the outset, as Assad’s security forces gunned down democratic protesters, the Obama administration and its European allies reacted hesitantly.  Now, pressure is mounting against the regime and the protestors have proven to be a durable and resilient force.

Through spring and summer 2011, as protesters threaten the Syrian dictatorship, no one yet knows when and whether the regime of Bashar al-Assad will fall. At the outset, as Assad’s security forces gunned down democratic protesters, the Obama administration and its European allies reacted hesitantly.  Now, pressure is mounting against the regime and the protestors have proven to be a durable and resilient force.

FDD’s experts are working with the Syrian dissident community to analyze the fast-moving operational environment and to identify policy and operational options to support the anti-Assad rebellion.

Steps that FDD has taken to support the Syrian dissidents include:

• FDD convened a roundtable of leading Syrian dissidents representing various factions within the opposition.  The roundtable also includes outside Syria experts to complement FDD’s in-house staff.  They help guide FDD’s policy recommendations, hold briefings with government officials, and appear in the media.  On August 19, 2011, the working group issued a letter to President Obama, recommending 10 actions his administration can take to support the opposition.
• FDD provides research and analysis used in legislation targeting the Syrian regime, including sanctions on the Syrian energy sector (which provides the Assad regime with up to one-third of its government budget).  FDD issued an initial report on “Syria’s Energy Sector:  Its Importance in Sanctioning the Assad Regime and Supporting Pro-Democracy Reformers.”
• On September 2, 2011, FDD Senior Fellow Reuel Marc Gerecht and FDD Executive Director Mark Dubowitz wrote an oped for the Washington Post, “Obama: American Liberator?” examining ways in which the United States can support the dissidents.  Their recommendations include “funds for striking workers, a wide variety of portable encrypting communications equipment and, critically, a cross-border WiFi zone that extends to the city of Aleppo, the commercial hub of Syria just 23 miles from Turkey…”
• On September 7, 2011, FDD produced a research memo focused on EU sanctions against Syria.  It noted that while 27 members of the European Union recently imposed sanctions on Syria, banning imports of Syrian crude oil and petroleum products, loopholes in the current EU sanctions law allow European energy companies to continue their operations in Syria.  The memo offers nine additional steps to strengthen EU sanctions against the Assad regime.

Examples of legislation targeting the Assad regime that was informed by FDD research include the following:

• Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Reformed and Modernization Act; introduced by Representatives Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Brad Sherman (D-CA)
• Syria Freedom Support Act; introduced by Representatives Ros-Lehtinen and Eliot Engel (D-NY).
• The Iran, North Korea and Syria Sanctions Consolidation Act introduced by Senators Menendez, Lieberman and Kyl.
• Syria Sanctions Act introduced by Senators Gillibrand, Kirk and Lieberman.

FDD’s Syria team includes:

• Tony Badran, FDD Fellow
• Ammar Abdulhamid, FDD Fellow
• Reuel Marc Gerecht, Senior Fellow
• John Hannah, FDD Senior Fellow
• Emanuele Ottolenghi, Senior Fellow
• Lee Smith, FDD Fellow
• Jonathan Schanzer, FDD Vice President of Research (project management)
• Mark Dubowitz, FDD Executive Director (sanctions and use of technology to encourage democratic change).
• Toby Dershowitz, Vice President Government Relations and Strategy