The rapid fall of Bashar Assad's regime in Syria after the successful advance of the Islamist militia Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which translates to "Organization for the Liberation of the Levant," will reshuffle Syria's relations with its neighbors.

HTS governed Syria's last major oppositional stronghold in the country's northwestern region of Idlib for five years, but as it focuses on consolidating its powers in the Syrian capital Damascus, there is much debate as to whether it will be able to govern the whole country, particularly as there are a multitude of other rebel groups who will want to share power.

"Arab leaders won't like the shattering of Syrian stability," Richard LeBaron, a non-resident senior fellow with the Middle East Programs at Washington-based think tank Atlantic Council, wrote on Monday.

For years, Assad's key allies were Russia, Iran and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. The Arab League — a group of 22 countries — had reestablished ties with his regime in May 2023 after 12 years of isolating him as a consequence of his brutal suppression of the local population during Syria's civil war.

But in the view of LeBaron, among Syria's Arab neighbors, only Qatar — which firmly opposed the Assad regime — might step forward to help with the reconstruction of the shattered, fragmented and economically weakened country.

Its new leaders will hope to see the lifting of international sanctions, but it remains to be seen which actors, apart from Qatar, might be willing to support them.

The HTS group, which was........

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