On December 16 at 11:00 a.m., the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow will host a discussion on the situation in Syria.
The situation in Syria has changed rapidly and radically. After 24 years of rule, on December 8 Bashar al-Assad resigned as President of the Syrian Arab Republic. Meanwhile, the armed opposition occupied Damascus. The following day, the Israeli army moved eastward into Syria from the occupied Golan Heights. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, Israel intends to maintain control over the region in the future.
Russia has played an active role in resolving the civil conflict in Syria in recent years, and these changes concern it directly. Russia is now in contact with all factions of the Syrian opposition, and is calling for a renunciation of the use of violence and the resolution of all issues through inter-Syrian inclusive negotiations with UN participation.
What led to the rapid regime change in Syria? How can international organisations influence the normalisation of the situation? What will the new Syrian government look like? How will the role of external players involved in Syria change? What are the goals and prospects of the Russian presence in Syria and the Middle East as a whole today? To what extent will the Syrian changes affect the entire region? The panellists will try to answer these and other questions.
Speakers:
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Vitaly Naumkin, Academic Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS, Professor, Full Member of the RAS
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Jamil Qadri, leader of the Moscow platform of the Syrian opposition, secretary of the ‘People's Will’ party
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Taha Özhan, Research Director, Ankara Institute
Moderator:
- Fyodor Lukyanov, Research Director of the Valdai Discussion Club
Working languages: Russian, English.
Information for the media: In order to get accredited for the event, please fill out the form on our web site. If you have any questions about the event, please call +79269307763
Links to the live broadcast of the discussion will be posted on all online platforms of the Valdai Club: on the website, X (formerly Twitter), VK, Telegram and Dzen.
