A new government is taking power in Syria after the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, but many are wondering whether it will soften its Islamist stance or function more like the Afghan Taliban as some expected. people have doubts.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a US-designated terrorist organization, controls the Idlib government in northwestern Syria and has established its own government, known as the Syrian Salvation Government, with a global jihadist focus on local governance. He said he had given up on his goal. In Idlib, HTS created a bureaucracy and various ministries to manage some public services, including public security.
“No matter how you look at it, they ruled with an iron fist there,” Natasha Hall, senior fellow in the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Fox News Digital.
At its peak, HTS controlled approximately 2 million people in Idlib province. Its leader, Mohammed al-Golani, rebranded HTS and sought to distance the group from al-Qaeda’s global jihadist elements and focus instead on local issues in Idlib.
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Questions remain about how al-Golani will rule all of Syria. Some Syrian observers who have been monitoring the group have been recorded warning in Idlib that HTS is not a democratic government.
Hall, the Syria expert, said HTS had taken complex actions in Idlib, including expelling Christians, but Hall said he had personally criticized religious minorities, including Alawites, who lived peacefully in Idlib. He said he knew.
Other aspects of their rule in Idlib are more troubling.
People gather in Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, on December 8, waving guns to celebrate the fall of the Syrian regime. (Ali Haji Suleiman/Getty Images)
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“In terms of an iron fist, HTS tried to eliminate dissent when there were protests against them. It was reported that they killed a well-known political activist, Raed Fares. Also in Idlib. Recently, there have been protests in Idlib over people who have been detained in HTS custody,” Hall said.
HTS was not very tolerant and was known for suppressing political dissent. Hall also said he personally knows people who have been “beaten up” by HTS fighters.
Mr. Golani oversaw a de-emphasis on strict interpretations of Islam and limited the power of the feared morality police that policed women’s public attire. Hall said the current problem is not necessarily HTS’ past record governing Idlib, but the power vacuum left by the overthrow of Assad.
Abu Mohammed al-Emir, head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, checks the damage after an earthquake in Besnaya village in Syria’s rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on the border with Turkey on February 7, 2023.・Golani. (Photo by Omar Haji Kadour/AFP)
“Everyone is going to seize power and influence,” Hall said, adding that the United States and the West should reduce risk, ensure a more stable and peaceful future for Syria, and strengthen the control of each potential governing body. He added that the group’s vulnerabilities need to be addressed.
Tammy Palacios, program manager for the New Lines Institute’s Priority Sustainable Counterterrorism Program and a close observer of Syria, said al-Golani has gone to great lengths to break with his jihadist past. However, he noted that moderation of the HTS at other levels remains unclear.
HTS security forces were known to “arrest, try, torture, detain, and kill individuals as a form of Sharia law enforcement” to exercise control in Idlib. Parts of the HTS government in Idlib also educated and influenced the population according to a hardline interpretation of sharia law.
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Since overthrowing the Assad dynasty, HTS has established an interim government called the Syrian National Salvation Government and appointed Mohammed al-Bashir as interim prime minister. HTS leader al-Gholani and interim prime minister met with former Syrian prime minister Mohamed Ghazi al-Jalali during the final months of Assad’s regime, who remained at his home in Damascus after the fall of the regime. I decided.
In its two-week lightning march to conquer Syria, HTS pledged to protect the rights of all Syrians, regardless of their faith or ethnicity, and also pledged to protect Shiite religious sites. When the rebels finally entered Damascus and President Assad fled, al-Golani ordered his fighters not to attack government ministries and worked with Jalali to ensure the continuity of daily government operations.
Syrians gather in Umayyad Square to celebrate the fall of 61 years of Baathist rule in Damascus, Syria, December 9, 2024. (Murat Sengur/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Mr. al-Golani, who is on a $10 million bounty from the United States, seeks to present a toned-down version of the radical Islamism that characterized years of fighting with American forces in Syria and Iraq. Mr. Al-Golani was captured by the U.S. military during the first decade of this century. When the Syrian uprising against Assad broke out, al-Golani founded a new organization called Jabhat al-Nusra.
He also once pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, but formally severed ties with the organization in 2016, and Jabhat al-Nusra became HTS in 2017. Although many HTS observers at the time criticized this rupture as a sham, al-Qaeda actually denounced the creation of HTS, creating further divisions between the groups.
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HTS ruled Idlib in northeastern Syria, but the organization targeted rival Islamist groups, including Ahrar al-Sham, Huras al-Din, and other jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS. did. As with the U.S.-Taliban negotiations in Afghanistan, combating terrorism and ensuring Syria does not become a safe haven for terrorists will be a precondition for recognition by the U.S. and other allies.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged Saturday that the United States has been in direct contact with HTS since it overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s regime. HTS has already said it will cooperate with the United States in the search for American journalist Austin Tice, who has been missing in Syria since 2012 and is believed to be held by the Assad regime. Initial contact with the rebels and a promise to work with the US to bring Tais home could further legitimize the rebels as they seek to tighten their grip on post-Assad Syria.
A photo taken on December 3, 2024 at the entrance to the Khuwailis military airfield in eastern Aleppo province shows a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a garbage dump after the rebels took over the area. A portrait and national flag are shown. group. (Photo by RAMI AL SAYED/AFP via Getty Images)
The US and UK are considering whether to remove HTS from their foreign terrorist lists, which will be important if HTS tightens its grip on Syria. Hall said that in order for HTS to be removed from the terrorist designation list, there must be a checklist to be implemented.
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“This is critical right now, and it is critical we do it quickly. If a designated terrorist group is running the country, it will cause devastating humanitarian and Because it can have an economic impact,” she said. Said.
Fox News Digital’s Benjamin Weinthal contributed to this report.
