Across the Levant, economic pressures, climate stress, and shifting political and security dynamics are transforming the way borderlands function. Fragmented governance, long‑running conflict, and illicit cross‑border flows continue to shape livelihoods and state authority along the region’s key frontiers, from the Syria–Iraq and Lebanon–Syria borders to Yemen’s coastal zones. Understanding these changes is essential for developing policies that support stability, formal trade, and climate resilience.
XCEPT’s Levant research brings together three projects that examine how border governance, climate‑driven adaptation, and illicit networks intersect across Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. The projects explore practical pathways for more coordinated cross‑border commerce, assess how drought and livelihood strain influence informal and illicit trade, and analyse how evolving smuggling networks reflect wider geopolitical transformations. They offer a grounded picture of the forces reshaping borderland economies and political orders in the Levant.
The projects
The Levant corridor: Policy pathways for rebuilding cross‑border commerce
This project develops policy tools that support gradual economic reintegration across the Levant Corridor by strengthening cross‑border regulation, customs coordination, and key trade mechanisms.
Fragile borderlands: Drivers of drought adaptation and instability in MENA
This project examines how drought‑driven livelihood pressures reshape informal and illicit trade in food, fuel, livestock, and water, and how these networks can either support climate adaptation or increase insecurity.
Illicit networks in the Levant: Political and economic implications in a post-war order
This project investigates changing patterns of smuggling and illicit trade, analysing how they reflect broader political shifts, weakened state structures, and transnational economic networks.