LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: When you visit some of the poorer areas just outside Damascus, like Ghuzlaniyah, near the city's airport, it's easy to see why it all fell apart in just under two weeks.

LEILA FADEL, HOST: Syria's nearly 14-year civil war has taken a dramatic turn. A group once linked to al-Qaida led a surprise offensive that seized Syria's second-largest city, Aleppo.

LEILA FADEL, HOST: In Damascus, Syria, where we're asking what a new Syria without Bashar al-Assad may look like. There are the questions about what people lived through as Assad used chemical ...

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: When you visit some of the poorer areas just outside Damascus, like Ghuzlaniyah, ... FADEL: In Syria, military service is mandatory for 18 to 21 months.

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: When you visit some of the poorer areas just outside Damascus, like Ghuzlaniyah, near the city's airport, it's easy to see why it all fell apart in just under two weeks ...

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: When you visit some of the poorer areas just outside Damascus, like Ghuzlaniyah, near the city's airport, it's easy to see why it all fell apart in just under two weeks ...

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: When you visit some of the poorer areas just outside Damascus, like Ghuzlaniyah, near the city's airport, it's easy to see why it all fell apart in just under two weeks ...

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: When you visit some of the poorer areas just outside Damascus, like Ghuzlaniyah, near the city's airport, it's easy to see why it all fell apart in just under two weeks ...

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 ...