PEACE AND SECURITY COVID-19 AND THE SYRIAN CONFLICT IMPLICATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL ACTORS AND THEIR STRATEGIES The three international actors that have most decisively shaped Syria’s war trajectory in recent years ­Russia, Turkey and Iran- are also among the countries most affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Given the major interests that Russia, Turkey, and Iran perceive in Syria, they have all remained strongly invested in the conflict, and the pandemic has not changed their overarching strategies. Nonetheless, certain adjustments in their behaviour on the ground may be observed. In this respect, COVID-19 constitutes another factor bolstering already-existing dynamics of the conflict in Syria; neither worsening the situation on the ground, nor improving it.