Strategic Assessment

This article presents Syria’s links to global jihad elements and examine the advantages and risks inherent in these links for Bashar al-Asad’s regime. In particular, it explores the use Syria makes of the terrorismsupporting card in order to consolidate its regional and international standing. In both arenas, this leverage serves on the one hand as proof of Syria’s centrality in the global struggle against terrorism, and on the other, as a tool for mitigating political and military punitive measures resulting from its involvement in terrorism, especially in Iraq and Lebanon.