Syria’s civil war has exploded again — which groups are involved and who controls what territory?
A sudden flare-up in Syria’s long-running civil war has stunned international observers, as a complex web of factions battle for control.
A sudden flare-up in Syria’s long-running civil war last week saw rebel forces retake the country’s second-largest city, Aleppo, in a massive blow against President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
The lightning offensive, led by Islamist fighters from a rebranded former al-Qaeda affiliate, has again thrown the global spotlight on the messy conflict where a complex web of domestic and foreign-backed factions are battling it out.
Rebels fighting with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), al-Qaeda’s former Syrian arm which changed its name from Al Nusra Front, arrived at the gates of the key city of Hama on Tuesday, buoyed by their capture of swathes of the north in an offensive that ended four years of relative calm and reversed years of gains by forces loyal to President al-Assad in the 13-year war.
The latest fighting, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said had triggered another “large wave of displacement”, drew appeals for de-escalation from across the international community.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday accused Ukrainian intelligence services of aiding rebels fighting Assad’s government, saying some fighters were “openly flaunting” the association.
Rebels fighting with HTS “have not only not concealed the fact that they are supported by Ukraine, but they are also openly flaunting this”, Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council.
Russia and Iran are key allies of Syria.
The envoy said there was an “identifiable trail” showing Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence service was providing weapons to fighters in northwest Syria.
“Ukrainian military instructors from the GUR are present … training HTS fighters for combat operations,” including against Russian troops in Syria, said Mr Nebenzia.
Amid the new offensive, a statement from Syria’s army command said its forces were striking “terrorist organisations” in north Hama and Idlib provinces with Russian air support.
Mr Nebenzia also criticised UN officials for being “unable to summon the courage to call a spade a spade and to condemn these terrorist attacks” against Syria.
Deputy US ambassador Robert Wood refuted the criticism, saying “the fact that HTS is listed as a terrorist organisation by the US and UN does not justify the further atrocities by the Assad regime and its Russian backers”.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Monday that Russia and Iran “bear the main responsibility” for the recent escalation in fighting.
Kyiv hit out at Assad for recognising Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014, and said Ukrainians were also being targeted on a nightly basis by Iranian-designed drones.
“The Russian dictator [Vladimir] Putin and his allies in Iran continue to make every effort not to lose control over the puppet Syrian regime, which is associated by the majority of Syrians with inhuman cruelty, tyranny and crimes,” the ministry said.
Who controls what territory in Syria?
Here is a look at who controls what territory in Syria, where war began in 2011 following the government’s crackdown on peaceful democracy protests.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham
The Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) alliance, rooted in al-Qaeda’s former Syria branch, rules the country’s last rebel bastion in the northwest.
Last Wednesday, HTS and its rebel allies launched a major offensive capturing Syria’s second city Aleppo and dozens of towns and villages from government control.
The offensive followed years of relative calm after successive government wins in Russian-backed military campaigns.
Now, the rebels have almost doubled the territory they control, according to Fabrice Balanche, a lecturer at the University Lumiere Lyon 2 in France.
Beyond Aleppo, rebels also pushed into central Syria’s Hama province, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reporting deadly rebel shelling on Hama city.
The government
Early in the war, Assad’s government in Damascus lost control over much of Syria to opposition factions, Kurdish fighters and Islamic State (IS) group jihadists.
It gradually clawed back ground with support from Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, while Russia’s intervention since September 2015 turned the tide in its favour.
The latest rebel offensive has seen Aleppo city fall out of government control for the first time.
The army still holds the country’s south, including Sweida province, where anti-government protests have occurred frequently over the past year.
The government also controls central Homs province, most of neighbouring Hama, all of Tartus and most of Latakia provinces on the west coast, and Damascus and its surrounding province.
A chunk of Aleppo province in the north is still in government hands, as well parts of Raqa province and around half of Deir Ezzor in the east.
Government forces are backed by local groups and pro-Iran fighters. Iran says it only deploys military advisers in Syria at the invitation of Damascus.
Russian troops are stationed in several government-held areas, including the Hmeimim air base near the city of Latakia on the Mediterranean.
Kurdish fighters
In 2012, government forces withdrew from Kurdish-majority areas in Syria’s north and east, paving the way for Kurds to establish self-rule under a semi-autonomous administration.
They have gradually expanded territorial control as US-backed Kurdish-led fighters battled IS, dislodging the extremists from their last scraps of Syrian territory in 2019.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, formed in 2015, are considered the Kurds’ de facto army.
The force is an alliance of fighters including Kurds, Syriac Christians and Arab Muslim factions.
The SDF holds around a quarter of Syrian territory, and is considered the second most powerful military force after the army.
An estimated three million people live in areas under Kurdish control, about a third of them ethnic Kurds, according to Mr Balanche.
It controls most of Raqa province including the city, a former IS stronghold, half of neighbouring Deir Ezzor province, and part of Aleppo province.
It also controls Hasakeh province in the northeast, though Syrian government forces are also present there.
US-led coalition forces, which entered Syria in 2014 to fight IS, have set up bases in the Al-Omar oilfield, the country’s largest, as well as the Conoco gas field — both in Kurdish-controlled territory.
US personnel are also stationed in Hasakeh and Raqa provinces. In 2016, they set up a remote base in southern Syria’s strategic Al-Tanf region, bordering Jordan and Iraq.
Turkey and allied factions
Parallel to the HTS-led offensive, Turkish-backed groups attacked Kurdish-led fighters in the Tal Rifaat enclave, wedged between the territory they control and government-held areas.
The Ankara-backed factions seized the strategic town of Tal Rifaat and nearby villages in Aleppo province, according to the Observatory.
Pro-Turkish forces control two sections of the border from Jarabulus to Afrin in Aleppo province, and a 120-kilometre stretch of border territory from Ras al-Ain in Hasakeh province to Tal Abyad in Raqa.
Since 2016, Turkey has carried out successive ground operations to expel Kurdish forces from parts of Syria’s northern border.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long sought to establish a “safe zone” 30 kilometres deep along the frontier.
Islamic State group
IS militants proclaimed a “caliphate” in June 2014 across swathes of Syria and Iraq, installing a reign of terror.
It was defeated in Syria in 2019, but its remnants continue to wage deadly attacks, particularly from desert hideouts.
Its fighters are particularly active in the vast Syrian desert, launching attacks against the SDF and the army.
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