Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Syria has been dealing with a complex political transition process marked by internal power struggles, the reconstruction of a war-torn state and the influence of multiple international role-players. The lack of centralized leadership has led to a struggle between opposition factions, Islamist groups and local militias, making the country’s stability more difficult. At the geopolitical level, powers such as Russia, Iran, Turkey and the United States have been seeking to secure their interests in the region, either by supporting armed groups or by intervening directly in the reconstruction process. At the same time, the Israeli offensive devastating Gaza has also affected southern Lebanon and the Golan Heights, a strategic Syrian territory under occupation since 1967 and annexed by Israel in 1981. In the meantime, the civilian population continues to suffer the consequences of years of conflict and economic sanctions, enduring a humanitarian crisis that requires a coordinated international efforts to ensure both security and access to basic services, all against a backdrop containing millions of internally displaced persons and refugees attempting to return to a country devastated by years of war. In addition to the state actors involved, there are Kurdish factions, Islamist groups and local resistance organizations playing key roles in shaping the new regime, which has turned Syria into a highly volatile geopolitical chessboard with a yet uncertain future.

The round table discussion will include participation by Rim Turkmani, a principal researcher at the London School of Economics (Legitimacy and Civility in the Arab World), Azzam Al Kassir, an expert on security and political Islam, and Dima Moussa, a member of the Syrian Opposition Coalition. This dialogue has been facilitated by the Arab Association for Constitutional Law (AACL) as part of the seminar which it is organizing in Madrid with the LSE. The event will be introduced by Karim Hauser, Casa Árabe’s Culture Coordinator.

Azzam Al Kassir is a political scientist and researcher based in London. He holds a PhD in Politics from Birkbeck University of London and an MA with honors in Middle Eastern Politics from the University of Exeter. His research explores modern Islamic political thought, radical Islamism, non-State role-players and Middle East geopolitics. He has a particular interest in processes within social movements, focusing on how Salafist and Jihadist groups evolve discursively and strategically.

Dima Moussa is a Syrian lawyer and politician. She recently relocated to Damascus. She practiced law in the United States until the end of 2012 and was a member of the Syrian political opposition since 2011. She was a founding member of the Syrian National Council (2011) and the Syrian Women’s Political Movement (2017), and she was a member of the Syrian National Coalition, the Syrian Constitutional Committee, and the Syrian Negotiation Commission. Ms. Moussa focuses in her political work on legal and constitutional issues, equal citizenship, and women’s rights.

Rim Turkmani is a Senior Policy Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She leads the research program on the Syrian conflict and is the principal investigator for the research project “Legitimacy and Civility in the Arab World.” She is a member of the Academic Committee of the LSE Middle East Center and the Women’s Advisory Board to the UN Special Envoy for Syria. Her research focuses on legitimate governance in the Middle East, with a specific focus on constitutional legitimacy and local drivers of conflict and peace. She has published many different academic and policy articles and most recently co-edited a special issue on local settlements published by the journal Peacebuilding.