On Thursday, October 23, at 8 am PT, the Pacific Council will host Qutaiba Idlbi, Director of American Affairs at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, for a conversation with Dr. Jerrold D. Green, Interim President & CEO and Senior Fellow for the Middle East and South Asia at the Pacific Council. This discussion will address the future of U.S.–Syria relations and the broader regional implications following the collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024 and the establishment of an interim government led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and President Ahmed al‑Sharaa.

Why it’s important:

• The United States has begun lifting longstanding sanctions on Syria and reducing its military presence, signaling a major shift in its engagement strategy after 14 years of civil war. These changes are an effort to support post-conflict reconstruction.
• Syria held its first national elections since the fall of Assad earlier this month. While hailed by some as a step toward democratic governance, the results reflect ongoing challenges, with limited representation for women and minority groups, and many seats going to men from the country’s Sunni Muslim majority. 
• The interim government’s attempts to assert control over the Kurdish-led northeast have sparked renewed violence. Clashes in Aleppo on October 7 underscore growing unrest between the central government and autonomous minority factions resisting reintegration.

Please send questions in advance to events@pacificcouncil.org.

To register for this webinar, visit the Zoom Registration Page.

Guest Speaker

Qutaiba Idlbi is the Director of American Affairs at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, where he oversees Syria’s engagement with the United States, Canada, and Latin America. In this role, he shapes diplomatic strategy, builds dialogue with international partners, and advances Syria’s post-conflict reintegration and recovery agenda.

Prior to assuming his current position, Idlbi was a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Middle East programs, leading the Council’s work on Syria. He authored widely cited analyses on the country’s transition, U.S. sanctions policy, and pathways for reintegration into the international community. His research and policy work have informed both governments and multilateral organizations on strategies to support stability and inclusive governance in Syria.

Idlbi’s professional background spans research, advocacy, and program management. He served as the Syria expert at the International Center for Transitional Justice, analyzing the framework of political imprisonment, and as a nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute, where he studied sanctions and forced displacement. He also contributed to field research on refugee entrepreneurship in Turkey and Jordan with Building Markets, assessed security dynamics with the Global Policy Institute, and developed governance and security assessments for U.S. government agencies through Caerus Associates.

Beyond research, Idlbi co-founded and served as vice president of People Demand Change, implementing civil society and peacebuilding programs across Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon. He is a 2013 Leaders for Democracy fellow with the U.S. Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative and a 2016 Peace Exchange fellow.

Moderator

Dr. Jerrold D. Green is the Global Advisor to Cedars-Sinai Hospital, a Los Angeles-based healthcare organization, and a Senior Fellow at the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations. He is also the Interim President and CEO of the Pacific Council on International Policy, a position he previously occupied for 16 years while serving as a Research Professor of Communication, Business, and International Relations at the University of Southern California. Green was a Partner at Best Associates in Dallas, Texas, a merchant banking firm with global operations. He also occupied senior management positions at the RAND Corporation, where he was awarded the RAND Medal for Excellence. Dr. Green has a B.A. (summa cum laude) from the University of Massachusetts/Boston, as well as an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago. His academic career began at the University of Michigan, and he subsequently joined the University of Arizona, where he became a Professor of Political Science and Sociology as well as Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

Green has lived and worked in Egypt, where he was a Fulbright Fellow, Iran, and Israel. He has been a visiting fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Science's West Asian Studies Center in Beijing; a visiting lecturer at the Havana-based Center for African and Middle East Studies (CEAMO), a fellow at the Australian Defense College, and delivered papers at conferences sponsored by the Iranian Institute of International Affairs in Tehran. Dr. Green led three U.S. Department of Defense-sponsored fact-finding delegations to Afghanistan, one to Iraq, and has served as an observer at the legal proceedings at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, conducted by the U.S. Department of Defense.

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To register for this webinar, visit the Zoom Registration Page.