‘A Truly Gordian Knot’ Awaits Trump

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).

The end of the Islamic state puts the United States in an uncomfortable geopolitical situation.

When it comes, the United States will enter a new phase of the conflict. The Syrian regime is back in full force in the east of the country, and the Iranian corridor from Iran and Iraq to Lebanon through Syria is now becoming a reality. The United States therefore faces a cruel dilemma and has the obligation to urgently define a post-IS strategy.

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