The anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, virtually unknown before the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s government, has leveraged his family name to become one of the most influential Shiite leaders in m…

As international attention focuses on the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad, cfr.org profiles some of the nation’s top leaders.

The United States has long tried to compel Syria to adjust its behavior, but rarely with any result. This backgrounder examines the current U.S. policy options toward Syria.

This publication is now archived. Syria’s slow declineWhat a difference five years makes. At the beginning of the century, Syria was a proud Arab country, ruled with brutal consistency for thirty yea…

This publication is now archived. What’s the significance of Lebanon’s parliamentary elections?They are the first democratic elections since 1976, when Syria began a 29-year occupation of its neighbo…