Table of Contents
IMMEDIATE CONTEXT
The Syrian government forces lost control of the country’s second-largest city—Aleppo, on Sunday for the first time since the conflict started in 2011 according to a war monitor. The onslaught started on Wednesday and coincided as Israel and Hezbollah were negotiating a fragile ceasefire in neighbouring Lebanon after two especially brutal months. With the exception of areas occupied by Kurdish forces, the rebels currently control nearly all of Aleppo.
This operation seems to have been planned for some time by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which carried out major military drills in the months that preceded the attack. According to Reuters, in addition to preventing any advances by the Syrian army—who were assembling troops close to the front lines with HTS and other organisations, the attack was triggered by increased airstrikes against civilians in recent weeks by Syrian and Russian air forces on villages in southern Idlib. As compared to the situation during the 2020 Ceasefire, their forces are now significantly better organised and well-trained. This includes having complete administrative authority over their domains and an established military college.
THE PAST AND THE PRESENT: Who Are Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham?
Initially established in 2011 under the name of ‘Jabhat al-Nusra’ as an affiliate of Al-Qaeda—Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, stands for the “Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant.” With an estimation of 30,000 troops, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham is currently the most potent rebel group in Syria and controls Idlib, which is home to around 4 million people.
Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, the founder of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, was a member of the organisation that later evolved into Islamic State (IS) and took part in the Iraqi insurgency against the United States. Previously known as the Al-Nusra front or Jabhat al-Nusra, HTS subsequently pledged its loyalty to Al-Qaeda. It relaunched as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham or Organisation for the Liberation of the Levant in 2016 and publicly severed those connections.
It was thought to be among the most lethal and successful of the organisations that targeted President Assad. It was however perceived at the time as being at conflict with the major rebel group under the label of Free Syria, with the apprehension that its motives lied elsewhere—separate from true revolutionary determination.
Although the US State Department had classified it as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation in 2018, Turkish intervention has been intended to limit its activities and it is not believed to have global aspirations. However, there are substantial challenges to human rights in the region it governs—such as carrying out executions for people charged with blasphemy, adultery as well as affiliation with other organisations.
