The Syrian rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which captured Aleppo in a shock attack over the weekend, is an Islamist movement that has long ruled areas of the country’s northwest.
Experts say the group has tried to tone down its image in recent years, including cutting ties with its one-time sponsor al-Qaeda, but it faces an uphill battle convincing Western governments it can It has completely abandoned radical jihadism.
Aleppo had been occupied by Syrian government forces since late 2016.
HTS says it no longer has any ties to al-Qaeda after splitting from it in 2016, five years into the Syrian civil war.
It took its current name the following year and arrested jihadists from al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.
But it remains blacklisted by the United States and the European Union.
In large parts of northwestern Idlib province, controlled since 2019, it has established a so-called “liberation government” that controls the rebel stronghold’s economy and whose judges are largely loyal to HTS.
The New York-based Soufan Center wrote, “Across parts of northwestern Syria, rebels have already begun establishing and building proto-governance structures, reflecting their ambition to rule and maintain control. “
“Some of these efforts date back years, including subsidizing the cost of food and sophisticated efforts to stabilize the banking and energy sectors in areas under HTS control.”
– ‘Rebel Group’ –
ICG jihadist expert Jerome Dravon said HTS “provides basic services to the population”, coordinating with US aid agencies to help deliver humanitarian aid to millions of people in need in their areas.
Even though some consider it authoritarian, “it offers a uniform regime, which is different from other areas of Syria”, he told AFP.
French journalist Wassim Nasr met with HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani last year.
“He and his group are no longer committed to the meaning of international jihad, that much is clear,” he said in a publication by the US-linked Combating Terrorism Center. They believe it will ‘only lead to destruction and failure for their communities. Has brought.” Military Academy West Point.
“Women go to school, women drive, you see people smoking on the street. Of course, they are far from supporters of democratic values or liberal free societies, but it is a change.”
Dravon said that, whatever the reason for HTS breaking ties with al-Qaeda years ago – whether it was strategic to avoid unwanted American attention or not – “it now behaves like an insurgent group with domestic objectives. is”, international terrorism without any “dimensions”.
– ‘Incredibly opportunistic’ –
However, many experts warn that the group has not fundamentally broken with its past despite its rebranding.
Tammy Lynn Palacios of the New Lines Institute said that HTS “has demonstrated that it is incredibly opportunistic in its allegiances and associations”.
“It will remain a jihadist organization until the HTS leadership successfully removes its rank and file’s ties to more radical jihadist groups and individuals,” he told AFP.
He said, “Al-Qaeda has nothing to do with HTS, no matter how much HTS compromises with al-Qaeda, and thus anything less than a public and formal rejection of al-Qaeda will in fact be a threat to the northwest.” “Will not reduce the threat of jihadist extremism in Syria.”
The Soufan Center also states that “although there are signs that minorities and non-Sunnis will be respected even by extreme elements of the insurgency such as HTS, the involvement of terrorist organizations in the offensive poses some threat”.
Like the Taliban, in power in Afghanistan from 2021 but not recognized in the West, HTS will likely struggle to leave Western “terrorist” lists.
Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), said this was appropriate.
“If you have to ask permission from al-Qaeda’s leadership before breaking ties with al-Qaeda, then the integrity of the ideological realignment is in question,” he told AFP.
He pointed to the case of a young Austrian man who was shot dead by Munich police in September after opening fire on the Israeli consulate in the German city.
According to Austrian prosecutors, investigators last year found three videos they recorded in 2021 that showed scenes from a computer game “with Islamic content.”
In one of them, the suspect used an avatar with the flag of the “al-Nusra Front”, which was the name of HTS before it broke ties with al-Qaeda in 2016.
“There is absolutely no debate over the fact that they should remain listed as a terrorist group,” Schindler said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
