A new map has been added to the Syria War. again.

In just a week, Syrian rebels have retaken most of northwest Syria from the government in a rapid offensive, turning the once-slow civil war on its head. After seizing most of Aleppo’s main city, its airport, military base and many towns and villages, on Thursday they drove out government forces from the western city of Hama, which had never before fallen into rebel hands.

The attack occurs after a certain period of time. Since 2020, the territory map has remained largely frozen. While President Bashar al-Assad’s government controls most of the country, different factions hold different pieces of the rest.

Here’s who’s fighting whom in Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war.

opposition force

The war broke out in 2011 after President al-Assad brutally suppressed anti-government protests. In the early stages, the rebels, who included both extreme Islamist and moderate factions, seized most of the country’s northwest and expanded into other areas. By 2014, they controlled not only their strongholds in the northwest, but also areas north of Hama, east and southeast of Damascus and near the Israeli border, as well as villages along the Euphrates River and al-Hasakah province in extreme Syria. northeast.

Then, in 2014, the Islamic State (IS) rose, and the following year Russia decided to provide military support to al-Assad. Islamic State has expanded its so-called caliphate into northeastern Syria, and overwhelming Russian airstrikes have driven back rebel groups who have been fighting al-Assad since 2011. Until this year, these opposition forces held only the northwest until their latest offensive began last week.

government forces and allies

Despite the rebels’ initial successes, pro-Assad forces, including fighters sent by Iran and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah as well as the Syrian army, have gained more territory over the past decade after a series of events led to a turnaround in the conflict. We were able to recapture it. favor. Pro-government forces retook Aleppo with the help of Russian airstrikes after four years of fighting that ended in 2016. The following year, the government’s offensive against the Islamic State (IS) put President al-Assad back in control of many cities along the Euphrates River. And his forces advanced in northwest Syria in 2019 and 2020, cornering rebels in Idlib province and bringing a conflict that lasted until a week to a stalemate.

islamic state

The Syrian civil war and increasing instability in Iraq allowed an ambitious al-Qaida branch called the Islamic State to rapidly expand its presence across both countries in 2013 and 2014. They conquered vast territories thanks to their bloody and extremist interpretation of Islam. In Syria and Iraq, they ruled under a so-called caliphate. At its peak in 2015, the group controlled a third of Syria and about 40% of Iraq, with the northern Syrian city of Raqqa as its capital.

But the U.S.-led Western coalition targeted the group with thousands of airstrikes, and U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces eventually defeated IS across much of northeastern Syria. Pro-Assad forces have also pushed the group into other areas, while Iraqi forces have been fighting it in Iraq. In 2018, it lost all but a tiny sliver of its territory.

Kurdish-led forces

The military of Syria’s Kurdish minority has become the United States’ main local partner in the fight against the Islamic State (IS). Kurdish-led forces have tightened their control over northeastern towns and expanded autonomous regions they have built there and along the Euphrates River after extremist groups were defeated in most parts of the country. But despite defeating the Islamic State (IS), Kurdish fighters still have to fight across the border with their long-time enemy, Turkey, which considers them linked to Kurdish separatist rebels.

In 2019, President Donald J. Trump withdrew U.S. troops from northern Syria, forcing Kurdish-led forces to abandon them and opening the door for Turkish forces to oust them from the northern border region. Seeking protection against Turkey, Kurdish-led forces headed to Damascus, while al-Assad’s forces returned to northern Syria, where they have coexisted ever since. Kurds still control most of northeastern Syria.

Turkish military operation

Since the start of the civil war, the Turkish military has launched several military interventions across the border into Syria, mainly against Syrian Kurdish-led forces that the Turkish military believes are linked to a terrorist separatist movement in Turkey, namely the Kurdish workers’ movement. The party (PKK) aimed to seize control of cities and towns previously held by Kurdish-led fighters through three Turkish operations in 2016-2017, 2018 and 2019. Northern border. Turkey now provides public services and effectively controls the area, where its currency is routinely used.