FILE - A Syrian protester holds up a placard during a protest against al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group in Binnish town, in Idlib province, Syria, on May 17, 2024. Syria's devastating civil war, now in its 14th year, remains largely frozen and so are efforts to find a viable political solution to end it, while millions of Syrians have been pulled into poverty, and struggle with accessing food and health care as the economy deteriorates across the country's front lines. Aid organizations are making their annual pitches to donors ahead of a fundraising conference in Brussels for Syria on Monday, May 27. The placard shows drawings of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the late Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Abu Mohammed al-Golani, leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, once linked to al-Qaida. The Arabic writing reads: "Assad = Baghdadi = al-Golani. The faces are different but the crime is one." (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed, File)