Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam whose members make up one of Syria's biggest religious minorities. Alawites controlled power in the predominantly Sunni Muslim country for the 50 years of the Assad family's rule,

Syria’s leadership isn’t the only aspect of the country to be changing as a result of this month’s toppling of longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad. The blurring of its borders is also underway — from Israel to the southwest and Turkey to the north.

It is at night that the past comes back to haunt Don McCullin, 90 next year, one of Britain’s greatest living photographers. Inside his head are the ghosts of two decades of war, and what he calls a lifetime of shame after growing up among the violent,

Amid the end of the nearly 14 years of civil war in Syria, Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to rekindle a new war in northern Syria against America’s main ally, the Syrian Kurds.

As those in the lucrative Captagon network move aside, how will the new leaders stop any criminals waiting in the wings to replace them?

Will he walk the walk and not just talk the talk? And if he doesn’t win in the elections, will he peacefully stand aside for whoever does win?” one analyst said.

Following the fall of Assad's regime, tensions across the Middle East have continued to remain high prompting concerns from countries in the area.

The high-level delegation arrived to engage in talks with Syria's interim leadership, the State Department confirmed early Friday.

HTS has long had a strained relationship with the other major rebel bloc in Syria, the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA). The SNA's focus during the recent offensive has largely aligned with Ankara's priorities - seizing Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria to eliminate what Turkey perceives as a Kurdish "threat" along its borders.

A Pentagon spokesman said the increase was unrelated to the fall of President Bashar al-Assad to rebel forces in early December.

Years of strife ruined the energy sector, battered the currency and strangled growth. The West must ease financial controls to help the economy, experts say.