Closed Conference on “The Levant at the Crossroads: Syria, Lebanon, and a Changing Regional Order”

On July 10, the Arab Reform Initiative, our Institute, and the Institut français du Proche-Orient (Ifpo) held a closed conference titled “The Levant at the Crossroads: Syria, Lebanon, and a Changing Regional Order” at the American University of Beirut, which gathered a select group of academics, researchers, practitioners, diplomats, and policymakers to delve into and examine the state of affairs in Lebanon and Syria amid an evolving regional and geopolitical landscape.

The Middle East, and the Levant in particular, is being remade at a pace that outstrips the analytical frameworks most analysts and policymakers have inherited. From the fall of the Assad regime to Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon, from the structural shifts in each of Syria and Lebanon, to their renewed bilateral relationship following decades of asymmetric domination from Damascus, all these developments have produced a Levant that is simultaneously in deeper crisis and in more genuine flux than at any point since the 1970s.

In light of a changing regional order that is yet to be defined, and Syria and Lebanon in a state of delicate reconfiguration, the discussion attempted to map the contours of what is possible, what is at risk, and what the policy and analytical community can contribute to those who navigate the region to avoid further destabilization or even collapse.