Over the last two years, intelligence organizations and analysts failed to anticipate critical events in the Middle East that would roil the region. The sudden collapse of the Assad regime and the opening of a new chapter in Syria’s conflict-ridden story is the latest in a fraught period that has seen an of escalation of tensions in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran. 

What explains the Assad regime’s sudden demise and the ascendance of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other Sunni Islamist organizations? What do these events portend for Syria’s governance and the policies of Iran, Russia, Turkey, and Israel in the region? And what would be the best policy on Syria for the incoming U.S. administration?  

Join Aaron David Miller as he sits down with Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, and Charles Lister, senior fellow and the director of the Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute, to explore these and other issues.