Fabrice Balanche (PhD in geography, 2000) is associate professor and research director at the University of Lyon II since 2007, and visiting fellow at The Washington Institute (2015-2017). His publications include Geopolitics of the Middle East (2014, in French), Atlas of the Arab Near East (2012, in French and Arabic), and the book version of his thesis, The Alawite Region and Syrian Power (2006, in French).