Over and above the heavy toll it has levied (over a hundred thousand deaths and nearly two million refugees, the destruction of several towns) this war, which has lasted for two years, has resulted in a violent fragmentation within Syrian society.

Moreover, this conflict that shows the limitations of the Western model when applied to the Near East, is also exerting destructuring pressures on the whole region by involving many areas, recognised states and otherwise, (Lebanon, Iraq, Kurdistan) directly in the conflict. It is also leading to a worrying redefinition of the regional map along religious and communal lines thus sharpening, in its wake, the tensions between the regional powers (Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar …)

Without being insensitive to the issues of the moment, the international symposium hopes to analyse the Syrian conflict on the basis of fresh historical and political perspectives as well as in the multiplicity of its internal and regional ramifications.