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    Syria After al-Assad’s Overthrow: What’s Happening and What Comes Next

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    Rebels are asserting control in Damascus as Israel and other countries carry out military operations.Follow live updates here.As a rebel alliance tries to create a transitional government for Syria, armed factions and outside powers are still fighting to fill the void left by retreating government forces.Kurdish-led fighters in northern Syria who are backed by the United States said early Wednesday that they had agreed to a U.S.-brokered cease-fire in Manbij, a city where they have been battling to fend off forces backed by Turkey.And the Israeli military has launched hundreds ofairstrikes against military assets across Syria in recent days, saying it was trying to keep them out of the hands of Islamist extremists.Here’s a guide to understanding where things stand in Syria, and what may come next.Here’s what you need to know:Who’s in charge?Who is Ahmed al-Shara?What is Israel doing in Syria?What is Turkey doing?What is the U.S. doing?What are the internal factions in Syria?Who’s in charge?Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, whose name means Organization for the Liberation of the Levant, was the main rebel group leading the latest offensive, launching a surprise assault in late November from northwestern Syria that quickly led to the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. It is now leading the transition to a new Syrian government.Mohammed al-Bashir, a rebel leader affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, announced in a brief address on Syrian television on Tuesday that he was assuming the role of caretaker prime minister until March. 1. Mr. al-Bashir previously served as the head of the administration in rebel-held territory in the northwest.Approximate advance of the Israeli military into the buffer zone More

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      Who is Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, Leader of Syrian Rebel Offensive?

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      After attracting little notice for years, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani spearheaded a stunning lightning offensive that led to the fall of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria after over 13 years of brutal civil war.Mr. al-Jolani, 42, is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist group once linked to Al Qaeda that has controlled most of Idlib Province, in northwestern Syria, for years during a long stalemate in the conflict.“By far, he’s the most important player on the ground in Syria,” said Jerome Drevon, a senior analyst of jihad and modern conflict at the International Crisis Group, who has met Mr. al-Jolani several times in the past five years.In late November, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched the most significant challenge to Mr. al-Assad’s rule in a decade, sweeping through Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, before charging south, capturing territory across several provinces without facing much resistance.By Sunday, rebels were celebrating in Syria’s capital, Damascus, and declared it free of Mr. al-Assad. Syria’s longtime leader had left the country after holding talks with “several parties of the armed conflict,” according to Russia’s Foreign Ministry. It did not say where Mr. al-Assad might be.Born Ahmed Hussein al-Shara in Saudi Arabia, Mr. al-Jolani is the child of Syrian exiles, according to Arab media reports. In the late 1980s, his family moved back to Syria, and in 2003, he went to neighboring Iraq to join Al Qaeda and fight the U.S. occupation.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      How to Understand Syria’s Rapidly Changing Civil War

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      Advances by a coalition of opposition groups have abruptly changed the landscape of Syria’s civil war after a long stalemate. Here’s a closer look at where things stand.Rebel groups fighting to depose President Bashar al-Assad of Syria battled regime forces on the outskirts of the strategic city of Homs on Saturday as they pushed toward the capital, Damascus, according to the rebels and a war monitoring group.Advances by a coalition of opposition groups headed by the Islamist faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have abruptly changed the landscape of Syria’s civil war after a long stalemate. Their lightning offensive poses the most direct challenge to Mr. Assad’s power in years and is raising fears of chaos if his authoritarian government loses control over large swaths of the country.The Syrian civil war started 13 years ago, beginning during the Arab Spring and escalating into a bloody, multifaceted conflict involving domestic opposition groups, extremist factions and international powers including the United States, Iran and Russia. More than 500,000 Syrians have died, and millions more have fled their homes.Here’s a guide to understanding the conflict, even as it changes rapidly.Here’s what you need to know:What is the situation on the ground?Who is fighting?What about foreign powers?What would a rebel victory mean?An enduring conflictWhat is the situation on the ground?The War in Syria Has a New Map. Again.A surprise advance by Syria’s rebels has redrawn a conflict marked for more than a decade by unusual, shifting alliances.In just over a week, Syrian rebel forces have seized much of Syria’s northwest from the government in a fast-moving attack, upending the stalemate in the civil war. After capturing most of the major city of Aleppo last week, the rebels drove government troops from the western city of Hama on Thursday. They are now threatening the strategic city of Homs, and edging closer to the capital, Damascus.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More