Sam Heller is a Beirut-based freelance writer, analyst and fellow at The Century Foundation. He has written extensively on the Syrian war for outlets including Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Monitor, Foreign Affairs, War on the Rocks, VICE News, The Daily Beast and World Politics Review. He lived in Syria, where he studied Arabic, in 2009 and 2010. He holds a master’s degree in Arabic from the University of Maryland College Park and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Yale University. Follow him on Twitter @AbuJamajem.