Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham

The fall of the dictatorship of the Syrian President, Bashar Assad, late in December 2024 has opened the door wide for speculation about what the future holds for the religiously diverse and ethnically mixed country. Strangely, two days after Assad had fled, Germany’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, called for the protection of minorities […]

The election in November 2024 of Donald Trump for a second presidential term in the White House was received with anxiety by people in the autonomous Kurdish enclave of Rojava. A month later, the secularist Arab nationalist regime of the Syrian President, Bashar Assad, fell to Islamist- leaning extremist groups. This transformative shift- which could […]

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham is exercising a significant degree of pragmatism and maneuvering, having transformed—following the “Deterrence of Aggression” operation—from an organization descended from Jabhat al-Nusra into a decisive, interventionist force, and then into a state after culminating its military campaign on December 18, 2024, with a pivotal historical event: the entry into Damascus, both as […]

In the context of structurally troubled countries that are undergoing superficial political transformations without substantial changes in authoritarian structures, the Syrian model emerges as a glaring example of the contradiction between claims of technocracy and exclusionary authoritarian practices. Despite the official reiteration of concepts such as “civil state,” “efficiency,” and “institutional reconstruction,” the practical reality […]

There is no doubt that the color green has infiltrated the Syrian landscape following the fall of the Assad regime, emerging as a dominant symbol. Social media has been filled with trending slogans such as “green is expanding,” referring to the need for opposition factions and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) to control Syrian territory. The […]

It is challenging for the recent supporters of Ahmed al-Sharaa – those who were not part of his group or supporters before 8 December – to justify the issuance of the constitutional declaration, which entrenches and details the features of autocratic and fascistic rule. Proponents and drafters of the declaration may argue for its acceptance […]

In his speech at the opening of the National Dialogue Conference in Damascus on February 25, 2025, Syria’s transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa focused on two topics that he views as major obstacles to the consolidation of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) rule and its absorption of the Syrian state. Al-Sharaa asserted that Syria “cannot be divided” […]

The emergence of Hafez al-Assad’s dictatorship in 1970 was based on an international factor, namely the Soviet-American approval to remove a regime that rejected Resolution 242, which defined the contours and course of the Arab-Israeli conflict after the 1967 war. Additionally, there was a regional factor involving the new Egyptian president, Anwar Sadat, who proposed […]

The discourse surrounding the future of Syria is revealing voices calling for war in the northeastern part of the country. Beyond the frenzy and hatred that characterize these voices, it is fair to say that they lack any understanding of the dangers associated with the idea of war, which does not serve the interests of […]

The Turkish government is racing against time to capitalize on the change that occurred in Syria on December 8, 2024, marked by the fall of the Syrian regime and the rise of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and allied factions to power in Damascus. With the diminishing influence of Iran and Russia, and the evident divisions […]

In the spring of 2015, Jaish al-Fatah, a military coalition between Jabhat al-Nusra and Harakat Ahrar al-Sham, took control of the entire Idlib province. In the summer of that year, they advanced south into the Al-Ghab Plain following the rapid retreat of the Syrian regime’s forces. Subsequent information confirmed that the objective of capturing Homs […]

Over the years, Iran has invested considerable blood and money to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and help him survive a civil war that threatened his rule. Iran has operated military bases, arms depots, and missile factories in Syria, using it as a conduit to arm its allies across the region, according to a report […]

On November 27, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and other allied jihadist factions launched a large-scale military operation named “Deterring Aggression.” During this operation, they managed to capture the city of Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, along with dozens of towns and villages in the Aleppo and Idlib governorates. They seized large quantities of weapons and equipment from […]

The map of the armed conflict remains liquid as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham advances beyond the borders of Aleppo to the outskirts of Hama province. While Syrian regime forces struggle to repel the advancing troops following an unprecedented series of withdrawals, leaving behind heavy weapons and hundreds of thousands of residents, pro-Turkish National Army factions have […]

The ISIS terrorist organization continues to expand in the Syrian Badiyah Desert region, adopting the method of rapid surprise strikes that leave as many casualties as possible, whether military or civilian. The group uses a strategy of intimidation and terror to disrupt the ranks of its opponents and demonstrate the strong presence of an organization […]