The Syrian rebels that toppled Bashar al-Assad's dictatorial regime began planning their shock offensive a year ago, according to the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's military wing, Abu Hassan al-Hamwi. HTS had been developing a disciplined military doctrine for the past five years and had been communicating with other rebel groups to coordinate their assault on Assad's forces. The group knew that Aleppo had to be the first domino to fall in order to topple Assad, so his forces concentrated resources and planning on taking over Syria's second largest city. HTS also overhauled their military forces, creating a new drone unit to combat Assad's superior weaponry. The rebel assault succeeded in taking down Assad and freeing Syria from over five decades of Assad family rule, but now HTS has to lead the charge in forming a new government that unifies the war-torn country.