One of Dr Harry Hagopian's 'Intuitive Reactions' provides the meat in the sandwich of this 'Middle East Analysis - Extra' podcast.

In December 2019, US President Donald Trump signed into law the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, also known as the Caesar Act, a piece of US legislation to sanction the Syrian government, including the president Bashar al-Assad, for war crimes against the Syrian population. The sanctions finally kicked in on 17 June.

But what impact does this have on Bashar al-Assad, his family and international sponsors? Is this designed to bring about regime change or regime attitude change?

To discuss this, Dr Hagopian is joined by Dr Ziad Majed, Program Coordinator for Middle East Pluralities at the American University of Paris. Professor Majed teaches Middle East studies and writes on Lebanese, Syrian and Arab affairs as well as on regional political transitions and crises.