Syria

Both the Ethics of Humanitarian Neutrality in Syria and the Red Lines for Humanitarian Aid in Afghanistan webinars were recorded and can be streamed via the seminar webpages.

​This new FAIR case brief by Zenonas Tziarras focuses on how the Astana process became central to the peace efforts regarding the Syria conflict after 2017, but it has been heavily influenced by the interests and positions of its three sponsors or guarantor powers: Russia, Turkey, and Iran.

​Save the Children's report Stop the War on Children: A crisis of recruitment shows that, in 2020, almost all children in Syria and Yemen were at risk of recruitment by armed actors.

​In an article for UIK Panorama, Research Professor Pavel Baev writes about the inherent weaknesses in Russia's capacity to pursue an ambitious foreign policy, which are getting exposed in the wake Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan. 

​In a MidEast Policy Brief, Research Professor Pavel Baev writes about the future of UN humanitarian aid to Syria, following the UN Security Council adoption of Resolution 2585 on 9 July 2021. Even though the resolution might appear to be a recycle of the compromise reached at the Security Council in 2020, it is different in many important aspects and will be tested again in 2022, argues Baev.

​In the MidEast Policy Brief 'Irresolvable Dilemmas? The Prospects for Repatriation for Syrian Refugees', Research Professor Kristian Berg Harpviken and Research Assistant Bjørn Schirmer-Nilsen address the challenges for Syrian refugees in major host countries, the refugees' eroding opportunities for onward migration, and their prospects for repatriation.

​Recent discovery of hydrocarbon has exacerbated existing geopolitical tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean. In an episode of PRIO's Peace in a Pod, PRIO Cyprus Centre Researcher Zenonas Tziarras gives an overview of the Eastern Mediterranean, laying out its key players and its recent history, and sheds light on why hydrocarbons are consequential for a region that includes several Middle Eastern countries.

The TRANSFORM research team has grappled with these questions for four years, and you will find some answers in this online exhibition.

​​On June 3rd 2021, the INSPIRE research platform was launched with a live performance by Faytinga and a presentation of artwork by Diala Brisly. The research platform can be explored at inspire.gallery

​The UN Security Council is to decide on cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria by July 10. In his new blog post ahead of the decision on the controversial issue, Research Professor Pavel Baev looks at how the context of the problem facing the Council has changed from Moscow's perspective since it was last on the table in spring-summer 2020. Baev argues that there are good reasons to assume that Russia is maneuvering toward a compromise supporting the extension of Resolution 2533.

​In the PRIO Paper 'The Geopolitics of Syria's Reconstruction', Research Professor Hilde Henriksen Waage and Research Assistant Magnus Seland Andersson address the geopolitical competition which has effectively deadlocked the civil war in Syria.

What drives the small but often heroic everyday acts of people in their attempts to challenge dehumanization and abuse in violent conflict? PRIO is proud to share the second of a series of three animations and comics from Myanmar, Syria and Somaliland, made for the TRANSFORM project in collaboration with PositiveNegatives. 

​In two recent articles, Pavel K. Baev argues that Russia's ambitions in the Middle East will be challenged in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Russia's objectives in Syria may be severely halted by the extraordinary force with which the pandemic has hit Moscow since early April. However, a setback in Syria may also lead Russia to re-enforce its role as 'champion of the counter-revolutionary cause' with yet another pro-active move in the Middle East – a region which is set to experience a new wave of revolutionary protests resulting from the economic decline following the pandemic.

​In the new PRIO Paper ‘The Shifting Turkish Agenda in Syria’s Evolving Conflict: Understanding the Drivers of Turkey’s Policy in Syria’, Pinar Tank critically examines the Turkish agenda in Syria, identifying Turkey’s domestic drivers and situating the country’s policies within an ever-changing regional and international context. The focus is particularly on how internal dynamics and nationalist politics are driving Turkish foreign policy in Syria. These domestic factors influence both Turkey’s relationship to the West and its more recent pivot towards Russia.