Syrian opposition to Bashar al-Assad in the context of "Free Syrian Army"

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. It initially began as a localised offensive targeting towns in the Idlib and Aleppo countryside, later evolving into a nationwide campaign that culminated in the toppling of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

On 29 November 2024, HTS and later the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) entered Aleppo and captured most of the city, amid the collapse of pro-government forces. The next day, opposition forces made rapid advances, capturing dozens of towns and villages as pro-government forces disintegrated, and advanced toward Hama in central Syria, subsequently capturing it on 5 December. By 6 December, the SDF captured Deir ez-Zor in an offensive east of the Euphrates, while the newly formed Southern Operations Room and Al-Jabal Brigade captured Daraa and Suwayda in an offensive in the south. The HTS advanced further south toward Homs. The US-backed Syrian Free Army (SFA) took control of Palmyra in the southeast of the country.

The Syrian Interim Government (Arabic: حكومة السورية المؤقتة, romanized: Ḥukūmat as-Sūriyya al-Muwaqqata) was a government-in-exile and later a quasi-state in Syria formed on 18 March 2013 by the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (Syrian National Coalition, SNC), an umbrella opposition group, during the Syrian civil war. The Syrian Interim Government constituted a separate administration in the Turkish-controlled territories in northern Syria and had partial authority there. The interim government's headquarters in Syria were located in the city of Azaz in Aleppo Governorate. While responsible to the Syrian National Coalition, the SIG was closely aligned with Turkey. The SIG's armed forces were the SNA.

After the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, the SIG coexisted for a short period of time with the Syrian caretaker government headed by Mohammed al-Bashir in Damascus, while the SNC expressed its support for the caretaker government and called for the formation of a government that would be "inclusive of everyone." On 30 January 2025, the SIG officially "placed itself at the disposal" of the caretaker government, which began deploying its forces across former SIG territory in early February 2025.7

The Syrian Salvation Government (SSG) was a de facto unrecognized quasi-state in Syria formed on 2 November 2017 by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other opposition groups during the Syrian civil war. It controlled much of northwest Syria and had an estimated population of over 4,000,000 in 2023. Its de facto capital was Idlib.

After the December 2024 fall of Damascus, the final prime minister of Ba'athist Syria, Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, transferred power in Syria to SSG Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir, with all ministers from the Syrian Salvation Government transferring to the same posts in the new caretaker government of Syria.

The Syrian Revolution Victory Conference, officially titled the Conference for Announcing the Victory of the Syrian Revolution (Arabic: مؤتمر إعلان انتصار الثورة السورية), was held at the Presidential Palace in Damascus, Syria, on 29 January 2025. It was attended by the commanders of various armed revolutionary factions that fought for the Syrian opposition coalition against the deposed regime of Bashar al-Assad, with the exception of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Southern Operations Room, and groups from Suwayda. It was organized by the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham-led Syrian caretaker government under de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The meeting praised the successful Syrian Revolution which resulted in the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024. In the conference, Military Operations Command spokesman Hassan Abdul Ghani announced that al-Sharaa had been appointed the president of Syria for the transitional period and laid out the new government's priorities, most of which involved eliminating traces of the deposed Ba'athist regime and rebuilding Syrian institutions.

The Assadist–Saddamist conflict, also known as the Ba'ath Party intraconflict, was a conflict and ideological rivalry between the Assadist Syrian-led Ba'ath Party and its subgroups, loyal to Ba'athist Syria, and the Saddamist Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party and its subgroups, loyal to Ba'athist Iraq. The conflict continued ideologically even after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and subsequent toppling of President Saddam Hussein, and ended after the fall of the Assad regime to a Syrian opposition offensive. Nonetheless, both regimes demonstrate shared traits, including strong militarization of society, autocratic rule, oppression, limitations on freedoms, power monopolization, electoral fraud, and responsibility for extensive suffering in both nations and the wider region.

On 27 November 2024, a coalition of Syrian opposition groups 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 government's armed forces in Aleppo and Hama Governorates in Syria. Codenamed Deterrence of Aggression by HTS, this was the first military offensive campaign launched by opposition forces in the Syrian civil war since the March 2020 Idlib ceasefire. On 29 November 2024, HTS entered Aleppo and captured most of the city, as the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) collapsed. The next day, opposition forces made rapid advances, capturing dozens of towns and villages as government forces disintegrated, and advanced toward Hama and subsequently capturing it on 5 December. This offensive begun a series of offensives that led to fall of Damascus.

The Syrian Free Army (SFA, Arabic: جيش سوريا الحرة), previously known as the Revolutionary Commando Army (RCA, Arabic: جيش مغاوير الثورة), and the New Syrian Army (NSA, Arabic: جيش سوريا الجديد), was a United States Army–trained opposition faction in southeast Syria. It was hosted at the US military's al-Tanf base and is now part of the Syrian Ministry of Interior.

Founded as an expansion of the Authenticity and Development Front by Syrian Arab Army defectors and other rebels during the Syrian civil war on 20 May 2015, the New Syrian Army sought to expel the Islamic State from southeastern Syria. In December 2016, the New Syrian Army dissolved, and the remnants of the group formed the Revolutionary Commando Army.

The Syrian peace process is the ensemble of initiatives and plans to resolve the Syrian civil war. Peace talks were unsuccessful from 2011 until the fall of the Assad regime at the end of 2024. Between December 2024 and March 2025, all major revolutionary factions of the Syrian revolution united to form the Syrian transitional government.

Plans for a negotiated peace between Ba'athist Syria and the Syrian opposition to Bashar al-Assad were ultimately unsuccessful. They began in 2011 with unsuccessful initiatives by the Arab League, the UN Special Envoy on Syria, Russia and Western powers. The negotiating parties were representatives of the Syrian regime and the Syrian opposition. The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) was excluded at the insistence of Turkey. In January 2012 and November 2013, Russia suggested talks in Moscow between the Syrian government and the opposition. In March–May 2012, hopes were raised by a United Nations/Arab League plan coordinated by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. In January and February 2014, the Geneva II Conference on Syria took place, organized by then-UN envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi. On 30 October 2015, further talks started in Vienna involving officials from the United States, the European Union, Russia, China, and various regional actors such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and, for the first time, Iran. Peace talks with rebel leadership continued in Astana, Kazakhstan in 2017. The Kazakh officials offered Astana as a neutral venue and "a natural home" for peace negotiations on Syria. The latest major effort to bring about an end to the war started in October 2019 in Geneva with the convening of the Syrian Constitutional Committee to draft a new constitution for Syria under the auspices of the United Nations. The Assad regime's refusal to engage in the peace process was rendered moot by 2024 Syrian opposition offensives which toppled the regime in 11 days.