BEIRUT — Syria’s conflict broke out in March 2011 with peaceful protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s government but has evolved into a complex war involving jihadist groups and regional and international powers.More than 290,000 people have been killed and more than half Syria’s population displaced in the conflict, which Turkey entered this week, dispatching troops to battle the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group and halt the advance of Kurdish forces.The main actors:• The main battle line pits the approximately 300,000 soldiers of the Syrian army, and allied forces, against myriad rebel groups and Syrian and foreign jihadists.• The largest anti-regime rebel alliance is the Army of Conquest, grouping Islamist factions such as Ahrar al-Sham and Faylaq al-Sham with jihadists such as Fateh al-Sham Front, previously al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra Front.• The biggest battlefront at present is Aleppo city, divided between government and opposition control but surrounded by loyalist f...
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