Several of our Middle East experts recently visited Damascus, and they share their on-the-ground insights below. —Ibrahim Al-Assil is the Syria Project lead for the Atlantic Council’s Middle East programs. —Jonathan Panikoff is the director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative in the Middle East Program. By joining the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, Syria could help reinforce a commitment to pluralism by decisively confronting extremist elements that threaten its stability. —Alex Plitsas is a nonresident senior fellow with the Middle East Programs’ Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative and leads the Initiative’s Counterterrorism Project.