Day: June 25, 2013
The fracturing Levant
As events in Syria continue to unfold, it is essential to understand the nature of the conflict. On Tuesday, Emile Hokayem, a Senior Fellow for Regional Security at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, delivered a presentation based on his recent book, Syria’s Uprising and the Fracturing of the Levant. Based on repeated visits to Syria after the uprising, the book relies on a range of primary sources such as fieldwork and interviews with all sides of the conflict. Steven Simon, the executive director of IISS-US, moderated the event.
Before the uprising, analysts had often exaggerated the power of the Syrian state, Hokayem proclaimed. While the Syrian state was not particularly weak, its resources, industrial base, alliances, and human capital pale in comparison to regional countries that had similar ambitions, namely Iraq and Egypt. However, Hafez al-Assad’s genius lay in his statecraft. While this made Syria a stronger state, the uprising has brought Syria down. It is now a weak state marked by divisions and internal rivalries. Read more
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