Four main groups are competing for control on the ground in the Syrian Arab Republic. They are:
1. Syrian Arab Army forces: The army, the government’s main military force, fights alongside the Syrian National Defence Forces, a pro-Syrian government paramilitary groups.
2. Syrian Democratic Forces: This Kurdish-dominated, United States-backed group controls parts of eastern Syria.
3. HTS and other allied rebel groups: The Ha'at Tahrir Al-Sham is the latest iteration of the al-Nusra Front backed by Qatar, which had pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda until it allegedly severed those ties in 2016.
4. Turkish and Turkish-aligned Syrian insurgents forces: The so-called Syrian National Army, otherwise known as the Free Syrian Army, is a Turkish-backed insurgent force in northern Syria.