Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)

The Sunni Islamist group that toppled Assad and now controls Syria's transition. - Dissolved January 2025, integrated into state institutions

On December 8, 2024, Bashar al-Assad's regime collapsed after a lightning 11-day offensive by rebel forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The 53-year Assad family dynasty ended not with a prolonged siege but with regime forces simply melting away. Assad fled to Moscow. On January 7, 2025, a Qatar Airways flight landed in Damascus—the first international arrival in 13 years—as the new transitional government began the monumental task of rebuilding a shattered nation.

Updated Jan 7

Former al-Qaeda affiliate now running Syria, rebranding from jihadists to counterterrorism partners. - Controls Damascus, leading Syria's transitional government

A lone ISIS gunman killed two Iowa National Guardsmen and a civilian interpreter in Palmyra, Syria, on December 13, 2025—the first American combat deaths since dictator Bashar al-Assad fled the country a year earlier. Six days later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth launched Operation Hawkeye Strike: F-15s, A-10s, Apache helicopters, and HIMARS artillery hammering 70 ISIS targets across central Syria with over 100 precision munitions. Jordan sent fighter jets. Trump called it vengeance. Then U.S. forces kept hunting—11 more raids between December 20-29 killed or captured 25 ISIS operatives and destroyed four weapons caches.

Updated Dec 31, 2025