What’s happening in Syria? A simple guide

Syria’s civil war is back in the spotlight after a new rebel coalition launched a surprise attack, sweeping into the country’s second largest city, Aleppo.

Syria’s civil war is back in the spotlight after a new rebel coalition launched a surprise attack, capturing two major cities, shattering the stalemate of a war that never formally ended. The renewed conflict, which has killed more than 300,000 and sent nearly 6 million refugees out of the country, has wide ramifications across the region and beyond. Here’s what you need to know. At the height of the Arab Spring in 2011, pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets in Syria calling for the ouster of its authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad. The protesters were met with deadly force. As Assad’s forces crushed the pro-democracy movement, an armed opposition began to form made up of small organic militias and some defectors from the Syrian military. The opposition forces – decentralized, made up of different ideologies, but with a common goal of toppling Assad – were supported in various ways by foreign powers including neighboring Turkey, regional giants Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the United States.