Hello everyone,
Welcome to our special online event: Winners and Losers in Post-Assad Syria.
In light of the whirlwind series of events in the past two weeks, The Saratoga Foundation held an online event to evaluate the post-Assad political and security environment in Syria. We are delighted that you are taking the time to watch our latest online discussion.
Joining us are three experts who will examine who the new brokers are in Syria and assess who won and who lost due to Bashar Assad’s downfall. The objective of this online event is to explore how the post-Assad environment in Syria will evolve and discuss how the various internal and external players may or may not shape Syria’s post-Assad future.
Our first speaker is Murad Shishani, who will examine the internal situation inside Syria and how the emergence of Abu Mohammad al-Jolani and his rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) may influence further political developments regarding the future of Syria. Murad is a former special correspondent for BBC World and an expert on militant Islamic groups in the Middle East and is currently a Senior Fellow at the New Lines Institute Middle East Center.
Our second speaker is retired Ukrainian Admiral Ihor Kabanenko who examines whether Russia is the biggest loser from the downfall of Assad and discusses how much of a strategic setback President Putin has experienced in Syria. Admiral Kabanenko will assess why Putin was unable to come to the aid of Bashar al-Assad and explain the strategic importance of the Russian naval base in Syria to Russian naval operations in the Mediterranean and why the loss of Tartus would be a huge setback for Moscow. Admiral Kabanenko is a former deputy minister of defense of Ukraine and an expert on the Russian navy and the Russian naval base in Tartus.
Our third speaker is Ambassador Matt Bryza, a former Deputy Under Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia who has lived in Istanbul for the past 13 years. Ambassador Bryza discusses Turkey's goals concerning the HTS's offensive and whether Turkey is the new powerbroker in post-Assad Syria. Turkey is perhaps the single most important country that will exert influence on the interim government in Damascus due to Ankara’s support for Syrian rebel factions and also because of its interest in bringing about the return of 3 million Syrian refugees that fled to Turkey as a result of the Syrian civil war.
Enjoy the video, and please remember to support The Saratoga Foundation by clicking on the PayPal link below!
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