The discussion will be held in both Arabic and English, with simultaneous interpretation available online.
You can register to attend by following this link. You will receive a Zoom confirmation email should your registration be successful. Alternatively, you can watch the event live here on our Facebook page.
The unexpected offensive waged by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Syrian National Army (SNA), has shaken the Assad-dominated stalemate that existed for the last four years. Much discussion has centered around the positions and ambitions of international and regional players like Russia, US, Turkey, Iran, and Israel.
While there is no denying the key role of these powers and their competing interests in Syria, it is also essential to examine and integrate the perspective and agency of major local Syrian players. Far from being simple pawns for foreigners’ agendas, local armed groups and populations have their own priorities and influence on the course of events.
This webinar will focus on the local dynamics in northern Syria that are driving the current offensive. It will examine HTS’s efforts to transform itself in recent years as it sought to cut off its ties to global jihadi networks and focus on local governance in Idlib. It will discuss what HTS and SNA are seeking to achieve in their military campaign and what the repercussions will be for Syrians who find themselves in areas under their control. The webinar will also look at dynamics between the different major armed groups in northern Syria (HTS, SNA and SDF) and how their competing agendas and alliances are likely to affect the course of events. Finally, the discussion will explore what this may mean for the broader political process in Syria.
The webinar will rely on the expertise of speakers with deeply grounded knowledge of the situation and the dynamics and seek to place Syrians and their demands at the center of the discussion.