Three months on, could Syria slide back into civil war? In the Alawite bastion of ousted president Bashar al-Assad, the bloodiest week in years with attacks and revenge killings of civilians that the new masters of Damascus are scrambling to contain. Why did the Mediterranean coast region erupt? What triggered it?

And what’s the next move by new strongman Ahmed al-Sharaa? The jihadist militia leader who’s traded in his fatigues for a suit and promised the outside world justice and respect for minority rights. Enough for the West to begin a desperately-needed easing of sanctions. Have the likes of the European Union moved too slowly or too fast?

And how will al-Sharaa navigate between his own alliance of forces that include Turkey-backed militias which contributed to the overthrow of Assad but could pose a threat to the central authority in Damascus, the US-backed Kurds who want federalism, and the Russians who want to keep their Mediterranean bases? Not to mention Israel, which rejected overtures of détente and for the moment occupies more land in the Golan Heights

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.