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I think it's a very important question. The short answer is that 95% of the rebels aren't officially Jihadists, but instead part of a general international effort to end the Assad dynasty and Ba'athist Syria. Why that has happened should be traced back to the Iraq war, IMO, and the reason Israel gave false information in order to start that war. It's still possible or even likely that mostrebels are worse than the latest Assad regime. Salafi Jihadist groups were only in small pockets of Syrian territory, and not in all cases (if any), aligned with the 'Syrian opposition' or the 'Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria' and their allies. All of the armed factions are ridiculously complex and I doubt the US news media will explain them properly. Here is a full list. Here is a map of their general locations on 1 December. Here is a template of all controlled areas, and notes on how to use it in order to see shifts in activity. What's especially disturbing about this war is that the many factions and the major countries involved will continue their meddling in Syria's governance, which will continue their roles in destabilizing the region.