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In the past 2 weeks, dozens of opposition fighters were killed trying to halt regime and Russian offensives in northern Hama, & Lattakia. The life story of a Omran al-Fares, killed this week in Hama, illustrates several points about the type of Syrians now fighting the regime 
Omran was born in 2011 & raised in Houla in the northern Homs countryside. The town was subjected to one of the first major massacres by pro-regime militiamen & soldiers on May 25, 2012. 108 civilians were killed with artillery, mass executions & butchered with knives.
Omran's uncle was killed in the massacre. After the massacre, Houla, along with surrounding towns, was placed under regime siege that lasted for 6 years. That year, Omran, at the age of 11, stopped going to school.
In late 2016, at the age of 15, Omran joined Jabhat Fath al-Sham, the first re-branding of Jabhat al-Nusra (now named Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS). He decided to join against the wishes of his family.
In May 2018, along with fighters & civilians in northern Homs, Omran was displaced to Idlib as the regime forced the towns of northern Homs to surrender after 6 years of a suffocating siege. He remained in the ranks of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham after the displacement.
Omran's family largely stayed behind in Houla. According to a friend of the family, they "trusted the Russian guarantees" for the safety of those who "reconcile" with the regime. 3 months ago, Omran's father, a defector from the Syrian army, was arrested. He remains incarcerated.
Omran leaves behind parents, 4 sisters and a brother. He was killed along with 4 teens from northern Homs fighting in the ranks of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in the battle to stop regime advances in northern Hama.
Omran's story is not unique and it illustrates multiple facets of Syria's tragedy well. Since the age of 10, Omran and his community were subjected to arrests, massacres, siege, forced displacement.
HTS lacks significant popular support & draws on marginalized youth like Omran for much of its fighting force. Relations between these fighters and the wider community are often strained, in part due to abuses carried out by the "security offices" of these factions.
Many of the rank-and-file of rebel groups experienced a life similar to Omran's - they are young, school-dropouts and from an early age experienced nothing but war.
Even those who survive the war & manage to evade incarceration will have a grim future ahead of them - they are deeply traumatized (I know because I talk to them), in some cases radicalized, uneducated, and often the only thing they know how to do is combat.
correction: Omran was born in 2001 (not 2011) - 18-years-old when he was killed. 11 when he dropped out of school & began living under siege. 15 when he joined Nusra.
