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Anti-regime forces declare Damascus ‘free’ of Assad as government forces withdraw presence
The rebels who have swept through Syria are led by Islamist alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, along with an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army (SNA).
Here is an extract from our explainer on HTS, which is rooted in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaida, and the SNA.
Both have been entrenched in the north-west. They launched the shock offensive on 27 November with gunmen capturing Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, and the central city of Hama, the fourth largest.
The founder of HTS, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, was once a participant in the Iraqi insurgency against the US as a member of the group that eventually became Islamic State.
In its former incarnation as Jabhat al-Nusra or the Al-Nusra front, HTS later declared allegiance to al-Qaida. It eventually publicly broke those ties in 2016 and rebranded as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or Organization for the Liberation of the Levant.
Continue reading…“}]] The Guardian Read More [[{“value”:”Anti-regime forces declare Damascus ‘free’ of Assad as government forces withdraw presenceBashar al-Assad reported to have fled Syria as rebels say they have captured DamascusThe rebels who have swept through Syria are led by Islamist alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, along with an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army (SNA).Here is an extract from our explainer on HTS, which is rooted in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaida, and the SNA.Both have been entrenched in the north-west. They launched the shock offensive on 27 November with gunmen capturing Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, and the central city of Hama, the fourth largest.
The founder of HTS, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, was once a participant in the Iraqi insurgency against the US as a member of the group that eventually became Islamic State.In its former incarnation as Jabhat al-Nusra or the Al-Nusra front, HTS later declared allegiance to al-Qaida. It eventually publicly broke those ties in 2016 and rebranded as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, or Organization for the Liberation of the Levant. Continue reading…”}]]
