Heiko Wimmen Project Director, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon Beirut, Lebanon Please submit all media inquiries to media@crisisgroup.org or call +32 (0) 2 536 00 71 Crisis Group Role Heiko Wimmen oversees Crisis Group's Iraq/Syria/Lebanon project. Prior to joining Crisis Group, he was an associate researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin. He has also published with the Carnegie Middle East Center and MERIP, and recently oversaw an edited academic volume on Elite Change and New Social Mobilization in the Arab World. Heiko, who is German, has lived in the region since 1994, mostly in Beirut where he currently resides. Areas of Expertise Domestic politics of Lebanon, Syrian civil war, post-war Iraq Sectarianism and identity politics in the Middle East Divided societies Social movements and political activism Civil society in post-conflict institution building EU policies towards the Arab world Professional Background Fellow and research associate with German Institute for International and Security Affairs 2009-2015 Project manager and deputy director of the Beirut Office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, 2004-2009 Professional fellow of the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), 2002-2004 Independent Journalist and Broadcast Producer in Beirut, 1996-2002 Languages German English Arabic French In The News 21 Dec 2018 [U.S. withdrawal from Syria] basically means you throw the Kurds under the bus. The only thing the Kurds can do is throw themselves into the arms of the regime. TIME Heiko Wimmen Project Director, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon 1 Mar 2018 Turkey has tried to drive wedges into [Hei’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)] because they see [the group] as very problematic. Al Jazeera Heiko Wimmen Project Director, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon 31 Jan 2018 Saying that Afrin will be returned to its rightful owners will leave many people wondering if they can return after the fighting [between Turkey and Kurdish forces in northern Syria] is over. AFP Heiko Wimmen Project Director, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon 26 Nov 2017 Hezbollah thrives on its position of being a state within a state, an alternative provider for all kinds of things [when Lebanon's political institutions are weakened]. The Washington Post Heiko Wimmen Project Director, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon 11 Nov 2017 [It is not] plausible to assume [Lebanese Prime Minister] Hariri’s resignation would compel Hezbollah to change its ways. No government can be formed without its consent. The Guardian Heiko Wimmen Project Director, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon Latest Updates Commentary / Middle East & North Africa 9 May 2018 In Lebanon’s Elections, More of the Same is Mostly Good News Lebanon’s elections yielded few surprises, says Crisis Group’s Lebanon, Syria and Iraq Project Director Heiko Wimmen in this Q&A. Hizbollah is slightly stronger and its main rival weaker. But the polls do represent a return to normalcy. Commentary / Middle East & North Africa 10 November 2017 A Huthi Missile, a Saudi Purge and a Lebanese Resignation Shake the Middle East Volatility is rising across the Middle East as local, regional and international conflicts increasingly intertwine and amplify each other. Four Crisis Group analysts give a 360-degree view of the new risks of overlapping conflicts that involve Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Lebanon and Israel. Op-Ed / Middle East & North Africa 12 May 2017 The U.S. joins the Turkey-PKK fight in northern Syria Directly arming one mainly Kurdish faction in Syria makes U.S. partly responsible for the fate of Syria’s Kurds. Given Ankara’s bitter opposition to the group, Washington should push its Kurdish partner to focus on regional autonomy in Syria, not its insurgency in Turkey. Originally published in Middle East Eye