Björn Brenner is a former UN official, naval officer and award-winning author based in Stockholm, Sweden. Brenner served as the Principal Military Advisor to the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, and as the First Reporting Officer to the ISSG Ceasefire Task Force, co-chaired by the United States and Russia. This followed on other international postings, as well as diplomas from Swedish and French universities. Brenner holds a doctorate in Development Studies from the University of Gothenburg and an MA in Political Science from Uppsala University. He has held postdoctoral fellowships at the Swedish Defence University in Stockholm and at the French Institute for Near East Studies in Amman, Jordan. Brenner’s work in the Middle East spans a decade and a half and began as a student at Damascus University. The following years he conducted extensive field studies in Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. By means of his participant observation approach, staying with families with varying political connections, he was able to interview both leaders and activists of several of the region’s more controversial political groups. Brenner is the author of numerous articles on Syrian, Palestinian and Jordanian politics, and has been a frequently appearing commentator in the media on Middle Eastern affairs.