Thousands of files, written in elegant fountain pens or printed in classical Arabic, illustrate how the regime has infiltrated protest groups and dissidents since the revolution erupted in 2011.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country has achieved its goals in Syria, and that the fall of ousted President Bashar al-Assad does not constitute a defeat for his country.

Maher al-Assad, the ousted president's brother and one of his closest aides, left behind palaces and a network of tunnels when he fled Syria. Where is he? And what does what he left behind say about him?

Iraq has set up a camp for hundreds of Syrian soldiers who entered Iraq last Saturday after being besieged by Syrian opposition factions that entered Damascus and toppled the regime last week. Officials described the move as “temporary” pending communication with officials in the new Syrian government.

While diplomats in Beirut were talking, the opposition in Syria was planning. A year before that meeting, figures in the Islamist opposition group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in northwestern Syria sent a message to the opposition in the south: “Get ready.”

In the days following Iran’s sudden and unexpected ouster as the dominant power in Syria, criticism has come from unexpected corners, including conservatives, flowing freely on television channels and talk shows, in social media posts and virtual seminars attended by thousands of Iranians, and appearing on the front pages of newspapers daily.