Along with its close ties with the Soviet Union, Syria maintained important relations with several smaller Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War. The authors of Syria During the Cold War draw on local archival material to illuminate the motivations, developments, and difficulties of the relationships between the regime in Damascus and the governments of Poland, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia in this formative era.

Przemysław Gasztold-Seń is on the staff of Poland's Institute of National Remembrance. Massimiliano Trentin is adjunct professor of history at the Universities of Padua, Venice, and Bologna. Jan Adamec conducts research in the Department of World History at Charles University in the Czech Republic.