Syrian civil war
Firstly, the most important actor in the Syrian civil war is the Syrian Armed Forces, under the control of the Syrian government and Bashar al-Assad. They are fighting in support of Assad's regime and against the armed opposition forces. Both the United Nations Human Rights Council and the Syrian Network for Human Rights have concluded that the Syrian Armed Forces are guilty of the most and worst human rights abuses. Following huge amounts of defections, the Syrian Armed Forces have since late 2015 depended largely on hired militias and volunteers from outside of Syria.