LibGuides: The Syrian Conflict: Resources

General Resources on Syria

Blogs on the Conflict

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi's Blog This blog provides the articles and blog posts written by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi. The most useful aspect of his blog is that he archives and translates documents from militant groups in Syria (such as ISIS or Jabhat Fateh al-Sham).
Informed Comment (Syria) Juan Cole's blog Informed Comment. His blog covers a variety of material, but the link is to the content on the blog solely related to Syria.
The Institute for the Study of War's Blog on Syria The blog of a Washington D.C. based think tank which often provides summaries of the organization's abovementioned reports.
Maysaloon
Pieter Van Ostaeyen's Blog A blog that provides maps of the conflict, analysis of the war, and translations of jihadist material.
Syria Comment A blog by Joshua Landis (Director of the Center For Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma) on Syria

Analysis, Compendiums of Primary Source Material, Data, and Reports Related to the Conflict

Al Jazeera Centre for Studies's "Mapping Southern Syria’s Armed Opposition" (Oct. 2015)
The Atlantic Council (Syria)
The Brookings Institution (Syria)
The Carter Center's page on "Syria Conflict Resolution"
Center for Strategic & International Studies (Syria)
Chatham House's "Salvaging Syria's Economy" (Mar. 2016)
Chatham House (Syria)
Congressional Research Service's "Armed Conflict in Syria: Overview and U.S. Response" (Apr. 2017 - PDF)
The Council on Foreign Relations's "Who's Who In Syria's Civil War" (Dec. 2016)
The Council on Foreign Relations's Articles on Syria
The Council on Foreign Relations’s Conflict Tracker on the Civil War in Syria
European Council on Foreign Relations's "Syria’s War Economy" (Apr. 2014)
House of Commons Select Committee Report "Armed actors in Syria" (Sept. 2016) This is section is part of a longer report on UK military operations in Iraq and Syria. The full report is linked to on the tab titled "An Overview of the Main Combatants in the Conflict".
The Institute for the Study of War's "Syrian Armed Opposition Powerbrokers" (Mar. 2016)
The Institute for the Study of War (Syria) This is a Washington D.C. based think tank which offers weekly situation reports on the war, in addition to other relevant content.
International Crisis Group (Syria) International Crisis Group is an NGO whose stated goal is to prevent warfare. In addition to articles on the conflict, often available in both Arabic and English, they present monthly reports on the war.
Jihadology (Syria) [Warning: Graphic Content] A clearinghouse for jihadi primary source material, original analysis, and translation service. The link is their content related to Syria.
The LongWarJournal (Syria)
The Middle East Foreign Policy Council (Syria)
The Middle East Media Research Institute (Syria)
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons's Special Section on Syria
RAND Corporation's "A Peace Plan for Syria III: Agreed Zones of Control, Decentralization, and International Administration" (Feb. 2017)
RAND Corporation's "Preventing State Collapse in Syria" (Jan. 2017)
RAND Corporation's Dynamics of Syria's Civil War (2014)
Stanford Mapping Militants Project's Profiles of Militant Groups
Stanford Mapping Militants Project's Timeline of Militant Groups (Syria)
Syria: Direct
Syria Deeply An independent English news source with background information on the conflict
Syria in Crisis (Carnegie Middle East Center)
Syrian Center for Policy Research
The United States Institute of Peace (Syria)
UPenn's Bibliography of Government and Think Tank Publications on the Conflict
UPenn's Bibliography of the Syrian Uprising
US Congressional Hearing "Terrorist Groups In Syria" (Nov. 2013) [PDF]
The Wilson Center's Timeline of the Syrian Conflict

Maps

Agathocle De Syracuse A blog which publishes maps of the conflict (both interactive maps of the conflict as a whole and more focused, non-interactive maps).
Al-Jazeera's Syrian Civil War Map
BBC: Islamic State and the Crisis in Iraq and Syria in Maps
The Carter Center's Syria Conflict Mapping Project
Columbia's Gulf 2000 Project's Ethnic, Religious, Tribal, Provincial, and Demographic Maps of Syria in 2010
Detailed, Collaborative Syria Civil War Map
Liveuamap's Map of the Syrian Civil War
SyriaCivilWarMap.com's Live Map

Short Explanations of the Conflict

Al Jazeera's "Syria's Civil War Explained from the Beginning"
Associated Press - "A Timeline of the Syrian Civil War and U.S. Response" (Apr. 2017)
The BBC's "What's Happening in Syria?"
Bloomberg's Quicktake on the Syrian Civil War
CNN's Syrian Civil War Fast Facts and Timeline
Encyclopaedia Britannica's "Syrian Civil War"
NYtimes's "Straightforward Answers to Basic Questions About Syria’s War" (Sept. 2016) The New York Times provides direct answers to some of the more common questions about the conflict. The questions they respond to include: what is the conflict, how did it happen, who is involved, and where did ISIS come from.