FPI Resources and Suggested Reading on Syria

The Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) is continuing to monitor the deteriorating situation in Syria. As Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces continue their brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protestors, the death toll continues to mount. The United Nations estimates that more than 3,000 civilians have been killed and 30,000 more have been arrested by the Syrian government since the protests began in March 2011. With Syrian opposition groups now asking for international protection from the Assad regime’s ongoing assaults, we believe that the following analyses, op-eds, and blog posts may be helpful for policymakers as they reformulate their response.

FPI Resources

• The Assad Regime’s Continuing Mass Murder of Syrians: Policy Options for U.S. Response – Foreign Policy Initiative and Foundation for Defense of Democracies – October 25, 2011

• FPI Bulletin: What Congress Can Do to Hasten Assad’s Exit – FPI Executive Director Jamie M. Fly and Policy Director Robert Zarate – Foreign Policy Initiative – September 22, 2011

• FPI Bulletin: The Administration's New Syria Policy is Promising, but More Needs to be Done – FPI Executive Director Jamie M. Fly and Policy Analyst Evan Moore – Foreign Policy Initiative – August 10, 2011

• FPI Fact Sheet: Five Steps to Hasten Assad's Exit – Foreign Policy Initiative – July 14, 2011

• Syria’s Nuclear Impunity – FPI Executive Director Jamie M. Fly and Policy Director Robert Zarate – The Weekly Standard – May 28, 2011

Additional Resources

• Can the Arab League and Turkey Stop the Slaughter in Syria? – Editorial – Washington Post – November 2, 2011

• Turkey Turns on Assad – Editorial – Wall Street Journal (subscription required) – November 1, 2011

• Assad’s Nuclear Ambitions – Elliott Abrams – Council on Foreign Relation’s blog, Pressure Points – November 1, 2011

• A Syrian Centrifuge Plant? A New Proliferation Challenge – Simon Henderson – Washington Institute for Near East Policy – November 1, 2011

• What Syria Policy? – Lee Smith – The Weekly Standard – October 29, 2011

• [Video] – U.K. Media Reports on the Syrian Democracy Protests – Unreported World and Panorama – Channel Four and the BBC – October 28, 2011

• Implications of Military Intervention in Syria – Jeffrey White – Washington Institute for Near East Policy – October 28, 2011

• Syria’s Resilient Revolt – Amir Taheri – Wall Street Journal (subscription required) – October 26, 2011

• A Fighting Chance: Why Obama’s Support For Syria’s Non-Violent Protests Isn’t Enough – David Schenker – The New Republic – October 25, 2011

• American Options in Syria – Elliott Abrams – Council on Foreign Relations – October 24, 2011

• U.S. Leadership Needed to Protect the Syrian People from the Syrian Regime – Robert Satloff – Washington Institute for Near East Policy – October 19, 2011

• [Event] – Syria: The Battle for Democracy and Change – Ambassador Robert Ford and Andrew Tabler – Washington Institute for Near East Policy – October 18, 2011

• Syria’s Assad Regime is a Threat to the U.S. – Editorial – Washington Post – October 15, 2011

• Preventing a Syrian Civil War – Salman Shaikh – New York Times – October 12, 2011

• A Real Syria Policy, Anyone? – Lee Smith – The Weekly Standard – October 8, 2011

• The Education of Susan Rice – Editorial – Wall Street Journal (subscription required) – October 7, 2011

• The Opposition Position – Ausama Monajed – Foreign Policy – October 3, 2011

• The Right Call on the Syrian Threat – FPI Director Eric Edelman, Elliott Abrams, Eliot Cohen, and John P. Hannah – Washington Post – September 15

• Obama, American Liberator? – Reuel Marc Gerecht and Mark Dubowitz – Washington Post – September 1, 2011

• FPI Directors Sign Open Letter Regarding the Next Steps for the Obama Administration to Take on Syria – Open Letter – August 19, 2011