The Latest - Syria

Syria Latest

12th May 2012 – Quoted by Matt Vasilogambros, National Journal

Syrian Exiles Lead Call to Arm the Opposition

Clifford D. May

Five years after being jailed, beaten, and tortured by government forces as a student in Damascus, Ahed al-Hendi is a Syrian dissident in the U.S. calling for Washington to arm the opposition fighting President Bashar al-Assad and his forces. more...

10th May 2012 – Voice of Russia

News Update

Tony Badran

The situation in Syria, Russia's policy, the Annan plan, and the two suicide bombings in Damascus. more...

10th May 2012 – The Weekly Standard

A Talk with Samir Geagea, Head of the Lebanese Forces

Lee Smith

Samir Geagea is reluctant to speak much of the attempt on his life last month. It was here, at his home in Maarab, a fortified villa high in the mountains, where one or more snipers allegedly took aim at the head of the Lebanese Forces, a Christian majority party. more...

10th May 2012 – The Long War Journal

Suicide Bombers Kill 55 in Syrian Capital

Bill Roggio

A pair of suicide bombers killed at least 55 people and wounded 372 more in a coordinated attack on a military intelligence headquarters in the Syrian capital of Damascus. more...

4th May 2012 – Haaretz

Has America Given Up?

James Kirchick

The Barack Obama administration gussies up everything it says and does in meaningless, New Age diplospeak. Its Atrocities Prevention Board is but the latest, and most ridiculous, example. more...

3rd May 2012 – NOW Lebanon

Damascus via Moscow

Tony Badran

Despite its admission that the UN-backed Kofi Annan plan in Syria was failing, the Obama administration appears to have settled into the plan’s process. The administration’s backing of the plan has brought US policy back to where it was last fall. more...

30th April 2012 – Quoted by Nicholas Blanford, The Christian Science Monitor

Syrian Uprising Shifts Toward Suicide Bombings. Al Qaeda’s Handiwork?

Ammar Abdulhamid

"The only Al Qaeda cells that operate in Syria are those manipulated by Assad's security apparatuses," said Ammar Abdulhamid, a US-based Syrian opposition activist in an online newsletter emailed today. more...

27th April 2012 – Quoted by the Associated Press

Syrian Opposition Activists Ask Kosovo for Advice

Ammar Abdulhamid

Ammar Abdulhamid, an exiled anti-Assad activist, said that seeing a new country "emerging out of the nightmare and emerging as a state" could be inspiring for Syrian dissidents. more...

27th April 2012 – Voice of America

News Update

Tony Badran

Syria and the Annan mission. more...

26th April 2012 – NOW Lebanon

Russia’s Strategic Clarity in Syria

Tony Badran

Russian foreign policy scored another victory last week with the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 2043, which established a supervision mission in Syria for an initial 90-day period. more...

26th April 2012 – Cited by Ruth Hanau Santini, Democracy Digest

Syrians Fall Victim to ‘Dual Logic’ of Sectarianism and Realpolitik

Emanuele Ottolenghi

The task admittedly more complex than in Libya, but “from a purely moral point of view, Western inaction is a display of hypocrisy that is bound to undermine future attempts to invoke universal principles in the name of policy,”... more...

26th April 2012 – Quoted by Matt Vasilogambros, National Journal

UN Mission in Syria Faces Criticism

Ammar Abdulhamid

For some anti-Assad activists, those aren’t enough to successfully overturn the regime. Ammar Abdulhamid, a Damascus-born activist serving as a fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. more...

25th April 2012 – Standpoint

March on Syria

Emanuele Ottolenghi

The Assad dynasty is not content with slaughtering its own people in great numbers. It is also destroying Syria's rich archaeological past. Writing last month in the US Weekly Standard, Victoria Coates described the devastation in detail. more...

24th April 2012 – The Weekly Standard

The Whole World Is Watching

Lee Smith

Obama’s Atrocities Prevention Board institutionalizes indifference to mass murder. more...

23rd April 2012 – Quoted by Peter Baker, The New York Times

US Sets New Sanctions Against Technology for Syria and Iran

Mark Dubowitz

The White House said that the restrictions were primarily aimed at entities based inside the two countries, but that American technology companies had been consulted and understood that compliance would now be part of their standard due diligence in international contracts. more...

19th April 2012 – NOW Lebanon

Washington Washes Its Hands of Syria

Tony Badran

Following the fiasco of peace envoy Kofi Annan’s plan and the monitor mission to Syria, all eyes are on the White House to see what its response will be. more...

19th April 2012 – Fox Business

Lou Dobbs Tonight

Jonathan Schanzer

FDD's Jonathan Schanzer joined Lou Dobbs and Walid Phares to discuss the possibility of US intervention in Syria. more...

17th April 2012 – Interviewed by Barry Rubin, PJ Media

Syria’s Revolution: An Interview with Ammar Abdulhamid

Ammar Abdulhamid

Ammar Abdulhamid has been the most articulate and credible voice of the Syrian opposition and the movement to overthrow the current regime. Barry Rubin interviewed him to get a clearer view on what’s going on in Syria and on what the future prospects are for the bloody conflict. more...

16th April 2012 – Cited by Jennifer Rubin, The Washington Post

Obama, Annan, Assad and Mass Murder

Jonathan Schanzer, Claudia Rosett

Jonathan Schanzer and Claudia Rossett, writing in the New Republic say we should have smelled a rat as soon as Annan was dispatched. They remind us that, in addition to the Rwanda and Srebrenica mass murders, Annan was been behind the monstrously corrupt oil-for-food program. more...

15th April 2012 – The Weekly Standard

Assad’s Violence Continues

Lee Smith

Here's video from Homs, documenting yet more violations of the Kofi Annan-brokered Syrian ceasefire that the Obama administration is celebrating: more...

Experts

Mark Dubowitz

Executive Director

Jonathan Schanzer

Vice President for Research

Lee Smith

Fellow

John Hannah

Senior Fellow

Tony Badran

Research Fellow, Levant

Emanuele Ottolenghi

Senior Fellow

Reuel Marc Gerecht

Senior Fellow

cia, iran, iraq

Toby Dershowitz

Vice President, Government Relations and Strategy

Events

9th May 2012 - 5:00 PM

Khairi Abaza Participates in Arab Roundtable

The Arab World's New Normal: Challenges, Opportunities, and What Next?

The Grand Hyatt, Washington, DC

15th March 2012 - 6:00 PM

Emanuele Ottolenghi Addresses the Center for Independent Studies

From Tehran to Tahrir Square: Is Freedom Really Sweeping the Middle East?

Syndey, Australia