There are Turkish-backed rebels and Sunni Muslim jihadists in the north, Kurds ruling over much of Syria’s east, and Jordan-backed militants in the south, among others. These groups fought a civil war against Assad for almost 14 years and will now contend to shape the country’s future without him.

The fall of the Assad government in Syria took almost everybody by surprise and has created uncertainty for competing foreign interests that had established lines of control most assumed were frozen in the region.