Three years after the start of the Uprisings, the Syrian Revolution has been repressed and transformed into an all-out war; and the country’s human, social and economic fabric tragically torn apart. Syria’s regional and international position is also profoundly impacted, its relationships with regional partners, the effects of the conflict on neighboring societies, the disintegration or consolidation of external alliances, and penetration by foreign state and non-state actors. The paper addresses Syria’s “new” international relations after the Uprisings. The objective is to explore the dual interaction between theory and reality, and consider the extent to which the case provides a challenge to theory. Indeed, the reflection on Syria’s changed domestic and foreign policies raises interesting issues relating, amongst others, to major debates in international relations (IR) theory and Middle East studies. The study of the region was traditionally underdeveloped from a theoretical perspective, feeding into Orientalist accounts of the Arab and Muslim worlds as “unique” entities outside the realm of analytic theory. Syria and the region continue to be predominantly analyzed through the lens of identity politics, hence reducing the variety of political and strategic developments to explanations based on the immutable essence of sectarian strife. This study proposes to address a challenging theoretical and empirical puzzle: How can political theory, and more specifically IR theories, help in understanding recent shifts in Syria’s international relations? Is the current struggle for Syria more convincingly ordered through the conceptual lens of ideology, identity and the construction of new narratives relating to “the fight against terrorism”, the rise of “Islamist threats” or the so-called “Shi’a-Sunni” regional divide; is it rather about power maximization and balancing against new threats to domestic and regional stability; or is perhaps the most powerful explanation found in broader conceptualizations borrowed from these different perspectives? The paper argues that Syria’s “new” international relations are best captured by exploring the interplay between different levels of analysis (systemic, regional and domestic), the nature, role and narratives of the different actors involved (state, non-state, sub-national), their identity and threat perceptions, and coalition-building processes. In addition to the relevant conceptual and empirical literature, the paper draws on primary sources collected in the region. Ultimately, the purpose is to provide a theoretically and empirically grounded analysis on post-2011 Syria beyond damning perspectives on the inescapability of sectarianism; and possibly, outline recommendations for the future of Syria.