Assad's Thinking: How Did Syria Get Here, and Where Does the Regime Want to Go Now?

As Israel prepares to host an unprecedented trilateral meeting with U.S. and Russian officials to discuss Syria and other regional issues, the Assad regime faces proliferating challenges in the northwest and may not be able to recover large portions of the territory it lost. What are U.S. interests in Syria today, and will the Jerusalem meeting advance them in any substantial way? Can Russia and Assad be relied upon to push Iran out of the country? And how much has Damascus been able to reestablish control?

Participating in the discussion are:

Michel Duclos, a career French diplomat who has served as ambassador to Syria (2006-2009). He currently works as a special advisor to the Paris-based think tank Institut Montaigne and a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington. He is the author of La Longue Nuit Syrienne, in which he describes the war's root causes from the personal perspective of a diplomat on the ground.

Robert Ford, a senior fellow at both the Middle East Institute and Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. He retired from the U.S. foreign service after serving as ambassador to Syria from 2011 to 2014.

Hanin Ghaddar, the Institute's Friedmann Visiting Fellow, moderated the discussion.