Beyond the Fall: Rebuilding Syria After Assad
The jubilation of Assad’s overthrow is still tangible. But the hard realities of the road ahead are now sharply in focus.
May 2, 2025
Hardin Lang is vice president for programs and policy at Refugees International. A veteran of six United Nations peacekeeping and humanitarian field missions, Hardin has worked in Afghanistan, the Balkans, Central America, Gaza and the West Bank, Iraq, Haiti, Jordan, Lebanon, Myanmar, Tunisia, Turkey, and West Africa. During his UN tenure, Hardin helped launch the UN stabilization mission in Mali, served as head of office for the UN special envoy for Haiti, and worked on the UN mission in Afghanistan. In Iraq, he served as chief of staff for the International Organization for Migration’s humanitarian and stabilization mission and later as an adviser to the UN special representative in Baghdad. Earlier in his career, Hardin spent two years working for the UN mission in Kosovo and three years working for the UN and human rights organizations in Guatemala.
Immediately prior to joining Refugees International, Hardin was a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP) where he specialized in Middle East conflicts and national security policy. He has also been a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Hardin has published widely, including in the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report. Hardin holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, a master’s degree in international history with a focus on the Middle East from the London School of Economics, and a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College.
The jubilation of Assad’s overthrow is still tangible. But the hard realities of the road ahead are now sharply in focus.
May 2, 2025
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