A New Syria Emerges After 13 Years Of Civil War And Decades Of Dictatorship

ALEPPO, SYRIA - JANUARY 24: The shuttered Hotel Baron stands in central Aleppo on January 24, 2025 in Aleppo, Syria. The famed hotel, which was a stop off for travelers in the colonial era, saw guests from around the world including Lawrence of Arabia (T.E. Lawrence,) King Faisal, Charles de Gaulle and Agatha Christie, who wrote part of Murder on the Orient Express at the hotel. In November 2014 the hotel was forced to close its doors as the Syrian civil war further enveloped the city with the front lines between the rebels and the government soldiers situated close to the hotel which has been closed ever since. Aleppo, Syria's second-largest city and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, saw years of destruction from fighting during the civil war in Syria. Following the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad by opposition groups in a quick offensive on December 8, the country is looking to gain economic momentum after years of global sanctions on the Assad-led government. Arab and Western countries have been reopening diplomatic relations with Syria's new de facto authorities, headed by the Islamist former insurgent group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. Fourteen years of war have left the Syrian economy damaged, with tens of thousands of residents living on or below the poverty line. The World Food Program estimates that 13.1 million Syrians do not have enough to eat. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)