Pressure continues to mount on the Assad regime from external parties and opposition tactics appear to be increasingly brazen, suggesting more bloodshed to come in the absence of serious dialogue. Recent coverage of events in Syria has focused on unprecedented action by the Arab League and unified condemnation of the regime by the Gulf states, Turkey, Jordan and the European Union. Iran and Iraq's Shia governments continue to support Assad, reinforcing their status as unreliable neighbors in the eyes of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.
Yet despite the importance of external actors, internal dynamics within the regime and the domestic Syrian economy are likely to play the greater role in determining the trajectory of events in the country. The Middle East Policy Council has published a variety of material offering insight and analysis to these internal dynamics. These include Bassam Haddad's Summer 2010 article on Syria's political economy; Antony T. Sullivan's 2007 article "Wars and Rumors of War: The Levantine Tinderbox;" Joshua Landis' 2007 essay on theU.S.-Syria relationship, and David W. Lesch's Summer 2009 portrait of Bashar al-Assad's leadership.
Here is a complete list of recent Syria articles from our journal Middle East Policy. For weekly updates on regional media coverage and commentary of events in Syria, please follow Middle East In Focus.
Syria in Crisis