After one of the most brutal wars of this century, a new flag flies across Syria: the emblem of the rebels who toppled the dictator Bashar al-Assad. Ben Hubbard, The New York Times’s Istanbul bureau chief, describes what our journalists learned as they drove across Syria, meeting people in towns and cities along the way as they strove to rise from the wreckage and build new lives.

The fight between two well-armed Mideast powers has their neighbors worried about the conflict spreading, a concern only deepened by U.S. involvement.

Years of intelligence collection, infiltration of Iran with commandos and weapons, and tracking of targeted commanders and scientists made the wide-ranging attacks possible.