Assad, old alliances have crumbled, and global powers are figuring out their relationships with Syria’s new de facto leaders.

Qatar and Jordan are the latest in the region to send delegations to meet with Syria’s new leaders, including Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham.

Protests in Christian neighborhoods of Syria's capital city erupted after a Christmas tree was set ablaze weeks after the downfall of the nation's longtime dictatorship, according to multiple reports.

The Pentagon announced the US currently has “approximately 2,000” troops in Syria, more than double the previously disclosed number of 900, a Defense Department spokesperson said at a press briefing on Thursday.

In the past week, the Pentagon has acknowledged that its footprint in Iraq and Syria is bigger than it has claimed for years

The U.S. has said 900 troops were in Syria, but Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, announced on Thursday that 2,000 are there.

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.

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.

U.S. diplomats visiting Damascus held Washington's first in-person official meetings with Syria's new de facto rulers led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on Friday and discussed with the former al Qaeda affiliate the future of Syria's political transition.

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

"I believe there will be violent fighting, the end of which we do not know," a top Syrian Democratic Council official told Newsweek.

After public protests and then rebellion erupted in Syria in 2011, Assad’s regime clung to power through systemic torture and relentless military campaigns with support from Iran, Russia, and an array of allied militias.