Given eight years of civil war, the divergent interests of local and powerful external actors and the international intervention against the Islamic State, what may the future hold for Syria’s northeast? Is a permanent ceasefire possible? In April, the Atlantic Council, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Foreign Policy Research Institute held a conference to address these questions. Aaron Stein and Emily Burchfield here provide an overview of the conference and build upon its findings, suggesting that any solution will require greater clarity on a direction for Syria from Russia and the US.Download English (PDF, 24 pages, 814 KB)