The toppling of Bashar Assad has raised tentative hopes that Syrians might live peacefully and as equals after a half century of authoritarian rule.

Ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad said he did not consider stepping down or fleeing the country, but remained until Russia requested his "immediate evacuation," according to a statement published on the Telegram account of the former Syrian Presidency.

Syrian rebel forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, declared they had ousted President Bashar al-Assad and he had fled Damascus on Sunday. But what is HTS, and how did it rock the long-simmering tensions in Syria? HTS is a Sunni Islamist militant and political group that traces its roots to the beginning of the Syrian civil war.