What to know about the civil war in Syria

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Islamist rebels launched a large-scale attack on Syrian government forces, causing the largest shift in the balance of power since 2020 in Syria, where more than a decade of war has taken place. Battling Iran- and Russian-backed regime forces, the rebels in a lightning offensive captured Aleppo, which was Syria’s largest city before the war, and then advanced south to the strategic and symbolically important city of Hama.

Here’s what to know. The war broke out in 2011, when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime violently suppressed protests that had spread across the country during the Arab Spring. That triggered an armed insurrection against the government, parts of which morphed into an Islamist uprising.

The northern city of Aleppo was a center of that armed rebellion, and the opposition forces claimed parts of the city in 2012. It took the Syrian regime four years, with military support from Iran and its allies and later Russian air power, to oust rebels from their strongholds in Aleppo. While President Assad’s forces eventually clawed back control over much of the territory, several rebel groups maintained control of parts of the divided country.

The rebels fighting the Assad regime are backed by Turkey and are largely made up of Sunnis. The main rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is a Sunni Islamist group that the Trump administration designated as a terrorist organization in 2018. Some rebel groups are backed by Turkey.

Meanwhile, Russia and Shiite Iran are backing Assad. In the wider Middle East, Iran and its allies are competing for power and influence against Sunni states, including the Saudi monarchy. Within Syria, Assad has drawn his support from the minority Alawite