Telling Friend from Foe in Syria

Posted: November 9th, 2016

By Fabrice Balanche

Fabrice Balanche, an associate professor and research director at the University of Lyon 2, is a visiting fellow at The Hoover Institution. Balanche, who also directs the Research Group on the Mediterranean and the Middle East (GREMMO), has spent ten years in Lebanon and Syria, his main areas of study, since first engaging in fieldwork in the region in 1990. Today, he is frequently called upon as an expert consultant on Middle East development issues and the Syrian crisis. His publications include "Geopolitics of the Middle East," "Atlas of the Arab Near East," and the book version of his thesis, "The Alawite Region and Syrian Power." Balanche holds a doctorate in geography from the University of Tours (2000).

Following the aggressive Russian and Turkish interventions in Syria, it can be difficult to tell where the various parties in the conflict stand. Between the U.S.- backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the mix of opposition forces trapped in east Aleppo, it can be difficult to tell where the rebellion really lies. Similarly, as regional and international powers shift the amount and kind of funding, weapons, training, and military support that they offer to combatant parties, U.S. policy is faced with an ever-changing battlefield. The Cipher Brief talked with Visiting Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), Fabrice Balanche, to bring some clarity to the five-year long civil war.

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