Syria's new leader is saying that he will dissolve the many rebel factions there and absorb them into the new ministry of defense. That new leader is Ahmed al-Sharaa. And if he can achieve unity, he'll do something that Syria's former dictator, Bashar al-Assad, never could.

NPR's Leila Fadel, Jane Arraf, and Ruth Sherlock share their reporting from Syria more than a week after the fall of the Assad regime.

People in Syria are looking for their relatives and friends in prisons, hospitals and morgues. The U.N. estimates over a 100,00 people have gone missing in Syria under the Assad regime.

Edition host Leila Fadel reports from Damascus, in the first week in a half-century that the Assad family did not rule the country.

The road to Damascus tells the story of a new Syria emerging from 54 years of authoritarian rule by one family, the Assads. Today's Syria is no longer theirs.

INSKEEP: NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi is part of NPR's team in Damascus and elsewhere in Syria. In fact, our colleague, Leila Fadel, is in Damascus. We're hearing with - hearing from her elsewhere in ...

Hey, Leila. LEILA FADEL, BYLINE ... DETROW: Have you met and talked to anyone from HTS during your time in Syria? FADEL: Yeah, I mean, I've talked to a lot of the rebel fighters.

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with Stephen Rapp, a former U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, on his trip to Syria to help preserve evidence from mass graves.

Survivors of the Syrian regime's chemical attacks are free now speak about how they lost their families. We meet people who endured attacks that Syria's former president used to stay in power.

When Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad fled the country, members of his own minority sect say he left them impoverished and stained with his legacy.

A possible ceasefire in the 14-month long war between Israel and Hamas is gaining momentum. There are signs that the two sides are closer to making a deal, but many sticking points remain.

People in Syria are looking for their relatives and friends in prisons, hospitals and morgues. The U.N. estimates over 100,00 people have gone missing in Syria under the Assad regime.