Category: Uncategorized
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Managing Foreign Jihadist Fighters in Post-Assad Syria: Evaluating U.S. Counterterrorism Policy Options
April 23, 2026. Abstract: This study analyzes the growing problem of foreign fighters in Syria and assesses the challenges they pose to U.S. counterterrorism objectives, regional stability, and the prevention of an ISIS resurgence. It evaluates how the integration of jihadist factions into Syrian state institutions contributes to sectarian violence, institutional fragmentation, and opportunities for…
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Jihadists Threaten Stability in post-Assad Syria
March 23, 2026. In early March 2025, clashes broke out between Assad loyalists and Syrian security forces in the coastal region of Latakia. However, after initially beginning as an attack on state forces, the clashes triggered a much larger sectarian conflict, leading to the massacre of approximately 1,000 Alawites, most of them civilians.[1] The attack…
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Analyzing the December 2025 Terrorist Attack in Palmyra, Syria
March 16, 2026. On December 19, 2025, the United States military began Operation Hawkeye Strike, a series of large-scale airstrikes against ISIS weapons sites and infrastructure in Syria. While the operation was aimed at disabling and preventing a resurgence of ISIS, Secretary Hegseth stated that it was “not the beginning of a war,” but instead…
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Sharaa’s Foreign Fighter Problem
March 9, 2026. On May 14, 2025, President Trump met with Syrian de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh. At the meeting, Trump urged Sharaa to “sign onto the Abraham Accords with Israel, tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria, deport Palestinian terrorists, help the United States prevent the resurgence of ISIS, and assume responsibility…
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ISIS Threatens Syria’s President, Calls for Attacks on the West.
February 23, 2026. Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa has come under recent fire by ISIS’s media and propaganda wing. The group called Sharaa a “puppet without a soul” controlled by the West, stating that he will have a similar fate as Bashar al-Assad. The audio message, delivered by ISIS spokesman Abu Huzaifa al-Ansari, is the first…
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Syria Attends Anti-ISIS Coalition Meeting
February 15, 2026. In a move reflecting evolving regional dynamics, the Damascus government recently joined the U.S-led coalition to combat ISIS. The Syrian government became the 90th member in November of last year, attending their most recent meeting in Saudi Arabia on February 9. The meeting follows an agreement between the SDF and the Sharaa government…