Ahrar al-Sham

The speed of the Assad regime's fall took everyone by surprise. The only people who might have suspected how hollow it was must have been the Russians and Iranians who had been propping it up. But they, too, were caught out by the advance of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which took Aleppo a week before reaching the center of Damascus on Sunday, as Bashar al-Assad sought asylum in Moscow.

Russia, Turkey, and Iran on July 8 agreed to continue working together to combat terrorism and condemned the increasing terrorist activities in various parts of Syria, according to a joint statement by the representatives of the three guarantor countries released after the 16th international meeting on Syria in Astana format.

Two major Islamist rebel groups operating in northern Syria are uniting, the France press reported.

"We, Ahhar al-Sham, and Nuredin al Zinki, declare our fusion the name of the Syrian Liberation Front," says a message of the two groups operating in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib.

Syrian lands across from Turkey's Cilvegözü border gate is being controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which has roots in al-Qaeda.

How did this happen?

Turkey has limited cross-border movements at its Cilvegözü crossing on the Syrian border because the area "has been taken by a group that we consider a terrorist group," Customs Minister Bülent Tüfenkci stated on Aug. 10. 

The polarization of the long-divided fronts in the six-year-long war in Syria is continuing, as several armed factions decided to merge with the former al-Qaeda affiliate Jabet Fateh al-Sham. 

Russia has invited the U.S. to take part in the upcoming intra-Syrian talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana on Jan. 23, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Jan. 19. 

"The U.S. have already been invited," Lavrov told reporters in Moscow, according to state-run Anadolu Agency. 

The Syria-wide cease-fire agreement has been signed by 13 armed opposition groups, Osama Abou Zaid, a representative from the Syrian opposition's truce negotiating team, told reporters late on Dec. 29. 

The agreement, that is two-page-long and consists of five articles, covers all regions in Syria and applies to all opposition groups, he said.

Syrian rebel representatives have confirmed earlier reports of Russian President Vladimir Putin that an "agreement" had been reached with the Syrian regime for an all-out ceasefire stating midnight on Friday.

Although the Syrian armed opposition has lost its six-year war to declare Aleppo the “capital of the revolution” and the Syrian equation has changed drastically, the curtain is not yet down on this act of the bloody play.