Fabrice Balanche

Fabrice Balanche (born November 3, 1969, in Belfort, France) is a French geographer and specialist in the political geography and geopolitics of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and the wider Middle East.

He was described by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as "one of the leading French experts on Syria". ^[1] He is regularly quoted in the written press on the subject of Syria, ^[2] in relation to his methods of mapping the Syrian civil war. ^{[1] [3] [4] [5]}

In April 2025, he was assaulted by masked pro-Palestinian activists during a class at Lyon 2 University. ^[6] The Lyon public prosecutor's office opened an investigation for "obstructing the exercise of the teaching function." ^{[6] [7]} He was placed under "functional protection." ^{[6] [7] [8]}

Publications

Books

• Lessons of the Syrian crisis (in French), Odile Jacob, Paris, 2024.
• Syria and Lebanon: sectarianism and power (in French), Presses Universitaires de Rhin et Danube, Hunningues, 2022.
• Sectarianism in Syria's Civil War Archived 2018-09-22 at the Wayback Machine, Washington Institute, 2018.
• Atlas of the Near East: State Formation and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1918–2010, Brill, Amsterdam, 2017
• Geopolitics of the Middle East (in French), La Documentation française, Documentation photographique, Paris, 2014
• The Alaouite region and the Syrian power (In French), Karthala, Paris, 2006, 313 p. ( ISBN   978-2-84586-818-2)
• Atlas of the Arabic Near East, Paris-Sorbonne University Press RFI, 2012, 135 p. ( ISBN   978-284-050-7970)

Collective works

• Lebanon and the Syrian crisis (in French),Maghreb-Machrek, Paris, n° 217, printemps 2014
• Beirut between globalization and Syrian crisis (in French), Géosphère, USJ-Beyrouth, Volume 3

References

1. "The Political Geography of Syria's War: An Interview With Fabrice Balanche". 2015-01-30. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
2. "Alep: pourquoi les rebelles ont-ils perdu ?" (in French). 2016-12-14. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
3. géopolitique, Steve Nadjar, Journaliste Responsable contenu du site/Spécialisé en. "Fabrice Balanche, géographe spécialiste de la Syrie: " L'utopie mobilisatrice des djihadistes demeure la destruction d'Israël "". Actualités Juives (in French). Archived from the original on 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
4. "Syrie: "Il est trop tôt pour parler de tournant", estime Fabrice Balanche" (in French). 2012-07-17. Retrieved 2017-02-22.
5. "Daech espère des représailles contre les musulmans". 24 heures . Retrieved 2017-02-22.
6. "A l'université Lyon-II, des étudiants traitent un professeur de « sioniste » et empêchent la tenue de son cours" (in French). 2025-04-04. Retrieved 2025-04-06.
7. "Pris à partie en plein cours, un professeur d'université placé sous protection". Le HuffPost (in French). 2025-04-04. Retrieved 2025-04-06.
8. Atlantico (2025-04-05). "Fabrice Balanche : « L'extrême gauche fait le nid de l'islam politique à l'université »". Atlantico (in French). Retrieved 2025-04-06.

External links

• Fabrice Balanche, Lyon University.
• Fabrice Balanche, Personal website

• Geography portal