Arguably the world’s most troubled region, the Levant continues to produce geopolitical obstacles and conundrums. Joel Rayburn, a Hoover visiting fellow and former US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Levant Affairs explains how Bashar al-Assad (the Levant’s “Tony Soprano”) survived a civil war and sanctions, the Arab League readmitting Syria, the significance of regional lands conducting their own diplomacy without direct US involvement, the role of a fragile regime in Iran, plus the long shadows of Russia and China.