Syria Battle-Space SITREP: Syrian opposition fighters/Jabhat Fateh al-Sham with Charles Lister

As ISIS dominates headlines in the Middle East, al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate has been quietly solidifying its partnerships with Syrian opposition groups and positioning itself to become the dominant non-state actor should ISIS fall. Charles Lister will provide an overview of the Syrian battlefield with insight from his most recent visit to the region, the implications of Jabhat al-Nusra’s split from al-Qaeda and the rebranding of AQ’s Syrian affiliate to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, and the perils of overlooking al-Qaeda’s role in the conflict.

Charles Lister is a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC, where his work focuses primarily on the conflict in Syria and on issues of terrorism and insurgency across the Levant. Charles is also a Senior Consultant to The Shaikh Group’s Syria Track II Dialogue Initiative, within which he has coordinated a track of face-to-face engagement with the leaderships of over 100 Syrian armed opposition groups since January 2014. Charles’ critically-acclaimed book, The Syrian Jihad: Al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Evolution of an Insurgency, was published in the U.S. by Oxford University Press in February 2016.

This is a brownbag event. Beverages will be provided.