In January 2025, HTS’s lightning offensive ousted Assad and installed an interim government under Ahmad al Sharaa, reclaiming coastal cities, oil fields, and ports with little outside interference. Yet Syria remains fractured into Kurdish‑run regions in the northeast, Turkish‑controlled enclaves in the north, and a patchwork of sectarian and tribal militias whose clashes—most violently between Alawites and government forces in March and Bedouin and Druze communities in July—have left thousands dead. With foreign patrons vying for influence and militias still armed, Syria’s fragile unity risks dissolving into competing quasi‑states unless an inclusive national dialogue and enforceable minority protections are secured.