Syria Trip Report: Next Steps for U.S. Policy

Nearly a half-year since the fall of the Assad regime, Syria’s transitional government has settled into its new role, and some of its officials are making their first trips to the United States for talks with the IMF, World Bank, and UN. Meanwhile, Washington continues to debate the appropriate level of engagement with the new authorities and the extent to which it is willing to ease sanctions. To better contextualize the situation, Aaron Y. Zelin—The Washington Institute’s Levy Senior Fellow and author of The Age of Political Jihadism: A Study of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham—recently traveled to Syria and gleaned on-the-ground insights that can help inform upcoming U.S. policy decisions there. To mark his return, the Institute is pleased to announce a virtual Policy Forum with Dr. Zelin, Gareth Browne of the Economist, who has been reporting from Syria since the regime’s fall, and Caroline Rose of the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, who also recently traveled to Syria. The event will be moderated by Andrew Tabler, the Institute’s Martin J. Gross Senior Fellow.