Josh Landis: The Princeton, Harvard and Swarthmore-educated Landis (who was raised in Saudi Arabia and Lebanon) is the director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oklahoma. His blog, Syria Comment, has been tackling religious,

political and cultural issues in the country since 2004. It’s become a go-to for officials in both Washington and Damascus. He’s on Twitter at @joshua_landis.

Peter Harling: As the project director for the Middle East at the International Crisis Group, Harling has lived in Syria and focused on the country’s foreign policy. The ICG’s reports on Syria have been some of the clearest and most enlightening reads on the crisis. Harling has accused the regime, the opposition, and the international community of collectively failing Syrian society.

David Lesch: As a professor of Middle East History at Trinity University in Texas, Lesch had a rare opportunity to study the Syrian regime up close. Before the revolution he met with President Bashar al Assad in a series of interviews over several trips to Damascus. His new book, The Fall of the House of Assad, chronicles the revolution and the evolution of Assad’s time in power.

Sami Moubayed: Until last year, Moubayed was the editor Forward Magazine, Syria’s most popular English publication. He’s now based in Beirut as a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment Center. His latest book, Syria and the USA, charts the history of bilateral ties – a view of how America looks from Damascus. He’s on Twitter at @smoubayed.

Salman Shaikh: Before serving as the Director of the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center, Shaikh was a Middle East policy insider at the UN. He’s now a scholar of regional politics and deeply versed in the dynamics of the opposition. Shaikh’s analysis for Brookings includes a view on ‘The Day After’ a political transition in Syria. He’s on Twitter at @Salman_Shaikh1