Since gaining independence from France in 1946, Syria has used a number of different flags, all featuring the pan-Arab colors of green, black, white, and red. Initially a green, white and black triband charged with three red five-pointed stars, known as the Independence flag, was used. In Ba'athist Syria, this was replaced by the flag of the United Arab Republic with red, white and black tribands with either two or three green stars or charged with the national coat of arms. Following the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024, the independence flag once again began to be used within the country by the Syrian parliament and the Syrian transitional government, and at Syrian embassies abroad.
Haitham al-Maleh is a Syrian human rights activist and former judge. A longtime critic of Syria's Ba'athist regime, he was imprisoned several times after standing for human rights and calling for constitutional reforms. In the early 2000s, Maleh was a figure of the Damascus Spring. During the Syrian Civil War, he was active in Syrian opposition groups. He was a member of the Syrian National Council and later of the Syrian National Coalition.
The Syrian National Council, sometimes known as the Syrian National Transitional Council or the National Council of Syria, is a Syrian opposition coalition, based in Istanbul, Turkey, formed in August 2011 during the Syrian civil uprising against the government of Bashar al-Assad.
This is a broad timeline of the course of major events of the Syrian civil war. It only includes major territorial changes and attacks and does not include every event.
The National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCC), or National Coordination Body for Democratic Change (NCB), is a Syrian bloc chaired by Hassan Abdel Azim consisting of 13 left-wing political parties and "independent political and youth activists". It has been defined by Reuters as the internal opposition's main umbrella group. The NCC initially had several Kurdish political parties as members, but all except for the Democratic Union Party left in October 2011 to join the Kurdish National Council. Some opposition activists have accused the NCC of being a front organization for Bashar al-Assad's government and some of its members of being ex-government insiders.
The Syrian opposition is an umbrella term for the Syrian rebel organizations that opposed Bashar al-Assad's Ba'athist regime during the Syrian civil war.
Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya, commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, is a coalition of multiple Islamist units that coalesced into a single brigade and later a division in order to fight against the Syrian Government led by Bashar al-Assad during the Syrian Civil War. Ahrar al-Sham was led by Hassan Aboud until his death in 2014. In July 2013, Ahrar al-Sham had 10,000 to 20,000 fighters, which at the time made it the second most powerful unit fighting against al-Assad, after the Free Syrian Army. It was the principal organization operating under the umbrella of the Syrian Islamic Front and was a major component of the Islamic Front. With an estimated 20,000 fighters in 2015, Ahrar al-Sham became the largest rebel group in Syria after the Free Syrian Army became less powerful. Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Islam are the main rebel groups supported by Turkey. On 18 February 2018, Ahrar al-Sham merged with the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement to form the Syrian Liberation Front.
The National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, commonly named the Syrian National Coalition, or the Syrian National Revolutionary Coalition (SNRC) is a political organization founded in Doha, Qatar, in November 2012 during the Syrian Civil War in an attempt to coalesce the various opposition movements to Bashar al-Assad's Ba'athist regime.
The Syrian Interim Government (SIG) is an alternative government in Syria, formed by the umbrella opposition group, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces during the Syrian Civil War. The Syrian Interim Government constitutes a separate administration in Turkish-controlled territories in Northern Syria and has partial authority there. The interim government's headquarters in Syria are located in the city of Azaz in Aleppo Governorate. While responsible to the Syrian National Coalition, the SIG is closely aligned with Turkey. The SIG's armed forces are the Syrian National Army.
A number of states and armed groups have involved themselves in the Syrian civil war (2011–present) as belligerents. The main groups were the Syrian Ba'athist regime and allies, the Syrian opposition and allies, Al-Qaeda and affiliates, Islamic State, and the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces.
Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerreAbu Mohammad al-Julani, is a Syrian revolutionary, military commander and politician who has been widely regarded as the de facto leader of Syria since December 2024. As the emir of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) since 2017, he played a key role in the 2024 Syrian opposition offensives, which led to the downfall of the Assad regime and establishment of the Syrian transitional government.
The Sham Liberation Army, originally called the Sham Liberation Brigade, is an armed rebel group active in the Syrian Civil War. It was founded and is led by Firas Bitar, a former Syrian Army captain who defected from the Syrian Army in 2012. Until 2016, its sole opponent was the Syrian Armed Forces and its allied militias; it rejected any fighting with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant until ISIL attacked its fighters in February 2016.
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), also referred to as Tahrir al-Sham, is a Sunni Islamist political organisation and militia involved in the Syrian civil war. It was formed on 28 January 2017 as a merger between several armed groups: Jaysh al-Ahrar, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), Ansar al-Din Front, Jaysh al-Sunna, Liwa al-Haqq, and the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement. The unification process was held under the initiative of Abu Jaber Shaykh, an Islamist militant commander who had been the second emir of Ahrar al-Sham. HTS, along with other Syrian opposition groups, launched an offensive and toppled the Assad regime on 8 December 2024, and now controls most of the country.
The Idlib demilitarization was an agreement between Turkey and Russia to create a demilitarized zone (DMZ) in Syria's rebel-held Idlib Governorate, to be patrolled by military forces from Russia and Turkey. On 17 September 2018, the Russian president Vladimir Putin and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, reached an agreement to create a buffer zone in Idlib.
Qatar–Syria relations are the bilateral relations between Qatar and Syria. Qatar closed its Damascus embassy in 2011 until December 2024. Qatari government recognized National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and gave it the Syrian embassy in Doha. The relationship between both countries has changed significantly over the past few years, largely as a result of the civil war in Syria.
On 27 November 2024, a coalition of Syrian revolutionary factions called the Military Operations Command led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported by allied Turkish-backed groups in the Syrian National Army (SNA) launched an offensive against the Ba'athist regime's armed forces in Idlib, Aleppo and Hama Governorates in Syria. The operation was codenamed Deterrence of Aggression by HTS. This is the first time that opposition forces in the Syrian civil war launched a military offensive campaign since the March 2020 Idlib ceasefire.
The Southern Operations Room, also known as SOR, is a Syrian rebel coalition consisting of various Syrian opposition groups that originally operated in the southern provinces of Daraa, Suwayda and Quneitra, though they have expanded to Damascus and Rif Dimashq.
The Syrian transitional government is the incumbent transitional government of Syria. It was established in December 2024 by the Syrian opposition after Ahmed al-Sharaa, Emir of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and now the de facto Syrian head of state, appointed Mohammed al-Bashir as Prime Minister, replacing Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali on 10 December. This came after the fall of the Assad regime and the exile of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Alawite opposition to the Assad regime had a history dating back to presidency of Hafez al-Assad, and continued during the presidency of Bashar al-Assad until Ba'athist Syria had collapsed in 2024. The Assad family was also Alawite.
Syrian Popular Resistance is a Ba'athist pro-Assadist militant organization based in western Syria. It was established after the fall of the Assad regime during the 2024 Syrian opposition offensives.
