A one-day academic symposium hosted by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies will bring together experts from Russia, the Arab world and the region to examine Moscow’s latest military intervention in Syria, on Saturday, October 24, 2015. While Russia’s decision to intervene directly in the conflict in Syria comes as the culmination of more than four years of diplomatic and military support for the Assad regime, the move by the Kremlin to deploy its military forces has come as a surprise to many observers, becoming a turning point not only in the militarized revolution within Syria, but also in the broader Middle East and indeed in a larger global arena. To better study the circumstances which gave rise to the Russian maneuver and the outcomes likely to result from it, the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies will convene “Russian Military Intervention in Syria: Motives, Objectives and Repercussions”. In the highly volatile climate which the Middle East is presently witnessing, selected participants at the meeting will be asked to examine the fallout of Russia’s actions on the future stability of the region.

A high profile list of guests expected to enrich the deliberations during the one-day meeting includes: Azmi Bishara, Burhan Ghalioun, Viktor Mizin, Emmanuel Karagiannis, Sergei Strokan, Marwan Kabalan, Haider Saeed, Radwan Ziadeh, Fateh Hassoun, Hasan Ozertem, Majed Al Turki, Rod Thornton and Mahmoud Muhareb. Together, the speakers bring with them a peerless wealth of information and insight that is vital not only to understanding what motivated Russia’s latest moves in the Levant, but also the reactions expected from regional and global actors who are also invested on different sides of the Syrian conflict. From there, the meeting will be better placed to understand the implications for diplomatic maneuvers which previously seemed poised to reconcile the combatants in Syria and end the conflict.

Registration for the conference opens at 08:00 AM on Saturday, October 24 in the Al Mukhtasar Hall of Doha's Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Further details can be found in the conference background paper. For a report on a previous meeting convened by the ACRPS on the broader question Russo-Arab relations, please see here.