Supporting Syria’s Social Fabric: Mediation, Dialogue, and Durable Peace in a Transitional Context

| Author: Meg-Ann Lenoble

| Summary

This paper is intended as a forward-looking analytical contribution for international partners. It highlights structural dynamics, emerging opportunities, and areas for preventive engagement in support of social cohesion and conflict transformation, without constituting an assessment of institutional performance or political actors.

Eighteen months into the transition, Syria remains characterized by a complex interplay between evolving institutional arrangements and deeply fragmented social dynamics. While the transition has created space for cautious optimism, patterns of localized insecurity, uneven governance, and persistent mistrust continue to shape community-level realities. These challenges are further compounded by unresolved grievances, displacement, and differentiated experiences of the conflict and its aftermath, resulting in divergent perceptions of legitimacy, inclusion, and protection across regions.

In this context, this phase of transition presents a critical window for preventive engagement. Field-based insights indicate that willingness to engage in dialogue exists across diverse segments of Syrian society, if processes are inclusive, conflict-sensitive, and sustained. Strengthening locally anchored mediation capacities and supporting credible, protected spaces for dialogue can help mitigate the risk of escalation, while reinforcing the social foundations necessary for a more resilient and inclusive transition. At this stage, civilian-led peacebuilding constitutes a practical and complementary avenue to support broader stabilization efforts.

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Featured image: The Citadel of Aleppo, Sep. 2025 – ©CPI