Mona Yacoubian

Senior Adviser and Director, Middle East Program
Mona Yacoubian

Mona Yacoubian is senior adviser and director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She has more than thirty years of experience working on the Middle East and North Africa, with a focus on conflict analysis, governance and stabilization challenges, and conflict prevention. She was previously vice president of the Middle East and North Africa Center at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), where she managed field programming in Iraq, Libya, and Tunisia as well as Washington, D.C.–based staff. In 2019, she served as executive director of the congressionally appointed Syria Study Group. From 2014 to 2017, Yacoubian served as deputy assistant administrator in the Middle East Bureau at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where she had responsibility for programming across Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq. Prior to joining USAID, Yacoubian was a senior adviser at the Stimson Center and a special adviser on the Middle East at USIP. From 1990 to 1998, Yacoubian served as the North Africa analyst in the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. Her opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and various other outlets, and she has testified to Congress six times. Yacoubian was a Fulbright scholar in Syria, where she studied Arabic at the University of Damascus from 1985 to 1986. She has held an international affairs fellowship with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and is a CFR member. She earned a master’s in public administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s in public policy from Duke University.

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Violence Escalates as Israel Intervenes in Southern Syria

On July 16, Israel struck various Syrian government targets in response to escalating violence in southern Syria. Mona Yacoubian and Will Todman explore their implications for Syria and the wider region.

Critical Questions by Mona Yacoubian and Will Todman — July 17, 2025

State of Play

How the Israel-Iran War Crossed the Rubicon

Max Bergmann and Mona Yacoubian join Will to unpack the ripple effects of the Israel-Iran war and what lessons other states are taking from it.

Podcast Episode by Will Todman, Max Bergmann, and Mona Yacoubian — June 26, 2025

Photo: iLab/CSIS
Audio Briefs

How Will Iran and the Middle East Respond to U.S. Strikes?

An audio version of “⁠How Will Iran and the Middle East Respond to U.S. Strikes?⁠,” a new Critical Questions by CSIS’s Mona Yacoubian. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs. 

Podcast Episode by Mona Yacoubian — June 23, 2025

Audio Briefs
The Truth of the Matter

Emergency Podcast: Iran Strikes Back

CSIS Middle East Program Director Mona Yacoubian joins the podcast to discuss Monday’s strike by Iran on Al Udeid Air Base, the largest American military installation in the Middle East and the broader strategic implications of the conflict.

Podcast Episode by H. Andrew Schwartz and Mona Yacoubian — June 23, 2025

CSIS the truth of the matter

Israel and Iran At War: What Comes Next? 

CSIS experts Daniel Byman and Doreen Horschig join Mona Yacoubian to discuss current developments in the Iran-Israel conflict, moderated by Will Todman.

Event — June 17, 2025

Can the Gulf’s Iran Policy Survive the War?

“Israel and the Gulf have rival visions for Iran’s role in the region. Now Washington has to pick one,” writes CSIS’s Mona Yacoubian in Foreign Policy.

Commentary by Mona Yacoubian — June 17, 2025