Al Majalla spent several days talking to civilians, fighters, and the former interior minister in the province where Syria's new leaders honed their modes of governance

Over 13 years, Syria's largest armed faction has evolved from IS offshoot to Al-Qaeda affiliate to local militia and, finally, the national government. Like Syria, it has completely transformed.

In Part 1 of a two-part interview, Ahmed al-Dalati from Syria's Military Operations Command tells Al Majalla how the rebels prepared for the ouster, including building homemade drones

The final stretch of Syria’s nine-year-old civil war in the northwestern province of Idlib is experiencing a deepening humanitarian crisis as government troops have been pushing to take control of…