David W. Lesch is a professor of Middle East History at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He has authored or edited 12 books, including: Syria: The Fall of the House of Assad; The New Lion of Damascus: Bashar al-Assad and Modern Syria; The Arab Spring: Change and Resistance in the Middle East; The Arab-Israeli Conflict: A History; and The Middle East and the United States: History, Politics, and Ideologies.