The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's event "The Changing Dynamics of the Syria Crisis" featured several regional experts who discussed recent developments in the conflict in Syria and their potential ramifications. The panelists included Raphael LeFevre, Gates Scholar and PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge; Paul Salem, Director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut; Yezid Sayigh, Senior Associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center; and Dmitri Trenin, ...

At an event hosted by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution on June 6, 2013 at 2:15pm, Senator John McCain gave his first public remarks on the conflict in Syria and his thoughts on wider Middle East policy for the first time since he visited Syria last month. Brookings Institution Vice President and Director for Foreign Police Martin Indyk provided introductory remarks and Senior  Foreign ...

On Tuesday, June 5, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing titled “Obama’s Failed Syria Policy.” Mr. Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Ms. Danielle Pletka, Vice President of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and Dr. Jon Alterman, Director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, testified. The committee’s chairman, Rep. ...

On Wednesday, May 15, 2013, the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing titled "U.S. Policy Toward Iran." Wendy Sherman, State Department Under Secretary for Political Affairs, and David Cohen, Treasury Department Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, testified. Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ) presided. For full event notes continue reading or click here for the PDF. In Chairman Menendez's opening statement, he said the United States needs to "double ...

The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a hearing titled “U.S. Policy Toward Syria” with testimony provided by U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, State Department Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Jones, and Treasury Department Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Daniel Glaser. Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ) presided. For full event notes continue reading, or click here for the PDF. Senator Menendez stated that the purpose ...

Writing for The New Yorker, Dexter Filkins suggests that the recent resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati was "sparked by the civil war" in Syria. While Mikati's decision to resign followed disagreements over internal issues, like the establishment of an election supervisory body, the country's politics are increasingly polarized by loyalties to the opposing parties of the Syrian conflict. Specifically, Filkins argues that Hezbollah's opposition to extending  the term of Major General Ashraf Rifi, ...

The House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing on the current conflict in Syria titled “Crisis in Syria: The U.S. Response.” Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, U.S. Department of State Assistant Secretary for the Bureau for Population, Refugees, and Migration Anne Richard and USAID Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance Nancy Lindborg were witnesses. Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) presided. For full event notes, continue reading ...