Peter Harling

Project Director (Iraq, Lebanon and Syria)
Damascus, Syria

Crisis Group role:

Peter Harling is Senior Analyst with the Middle East Program of the International Crisis Group and is based in Damascus. His research at Crisis Group is focused on Iraq, where he lived and worked over 7 years. He also conducts and supervises research in Lebanon and Syria.

Areas of expertise:

• The Iraqi insurgency
• The Sadrist movement
• Tribalism in Iraq
• Syrian foreign policy

Professional background:

• Independent Consultant, French public and private sectors including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French Institute of International Affairs (1998 - 2004)
• Political Science Researcher, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, writing PHD in Paris at the Higher School for Social Science Studies (2001 - )
• Research Fellow,Sorbonne University Centre for International Studies (Centre de Recherches Internationales de la Sorbonne - CRIS) (2005 - )

Publications and media:

• "Stable Iraq Key to U.S.-Syria Dialogue", Defense News, 1 June 2009
• "العراق: ما لم تقله لنا كتب التاريخ", Al Quds Al Arabi, 29 March 2008
• "Lessons of the Franco-Syrian Fiasco", Syria Today, March 2008
• "لدروس المستقاة من إخفاق الحوار الفرنسي - السوري ", Al Hayat, 18 March 2008
• "France-Syrie, l'heure de vérité", with Robert Malley, Le Monde, 21 December 2007
• "الجيل الضائع في العراق: امريكا لا تهزم اعداءها بل تصنعهم", Al Quds Al Arabi, 11 December 2007
• "La mouvance Sadriste en Iraq: Lutte de classes, millénarisme et Fitna", with Hamid Yasin, in Sabrina Mervin (ed.), Les Mondes Shiites et l’Iran. Paris/Beirut: Karthala/IFPO, 2007
• "A Lesson in Iraqi Illusion", with Robert Malley, The Boston Globe, 8 July 2007
• "Dialoguer avec la Syrie, une nécessité", with Robert Malley, Le Monde, 2 June 2007
• "Eyes Wide Shut", with Joost Hiltermann, Le Monde Diplomatique, May 2007
• "Les dynamiques du conflit irakien", Critique Internationale, nº34, January 2007
• "Talks with Iran and Syria Will Not Be an Easy Ride", with Robert Malley, Financial Times, 14 December 2006
• "Convulsion en Oriente Proximo", El Mundo, 17 December 2006
• "مقاربة عملية لإشراك سورية في استقرار المنطقة", Al Hayat, 25 November 2006. Also available in English
• "The Falluja Syndrome: Taking the Fight to the Enemy that Wasn’t", Campaigning Journal, Fall 2006
• "Containing a Shiite Symbol of Hope", with Rob Malley, The Christian Science Monitor, 24 October 2006
• "Iraq’s Diverse Shia", with Hamid Yasin, Le Monde Diplomatique, September 2006. Also avalaible in French
• "العراق: ما يحول دون قيام الدولة", Al Akhbar, 18-19 July 2006
• "Iraq’s Resistance Evolves", with Mathieu Guidère, Le Monde Diplomatique, May 2006. Also available in French and German
• "Iraq: The Enemy We Hardly Know", with Rob Malley, The Boston Globe, 19 March 2006
• "A Counter-Intuitive Strategy for Iraq", with Rob Malley, Financial Times, 22 November 2005
• "La guerre Américaine en Irak et en Afghanistan : entre vision messianique et ajustements tactiques", with Gilles Dorronsoro, Politique étrangère, Winter 2005
• "How the U.S. Can Salvage Iraq", with Rob Malley, International Herald Tribune, 11 January 2005

Languages:

• French (native)
• English (fluent)
• Arabic (intermediate)

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