Who is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebels taking control of Aleppo?

Rebels launched their biggest offensive against the Syrian government in years on Wednesday.

By Sunday, they had “majority” control of the country’s second-largest city, Aleppo and already advance towards Hama in the south.

The surprise attack prompted Russia’s first assault on Aleppo since 2016 and saw the Syrian army withdraw from the city.

The attack was led by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – a group with a long history and involvement in the conflict in Syria.

HTS was established under a different name, Jabhat al-Nusrain 2011 as a direct affiliate of Al Qaeda.

The leader of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadialso participate in its formation.

This is considered one of the most effective and dangerous groups operating against President Assad.

But its jihadist ideology appeared to be the driving force rather than revolutionary fervor – and at the time it was seen as at odds with the main rebel coalition under the Free Syria banner.

And in 2016, the group’s leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, publicly broke ties with Al Qaeda, dissolved Jabhat al-Nusra and established a new organizationadopted the name Hayat Tahrir al-Sham when it merged with several other similar groups a year later.

The war in Syria of the past four years appears to be over.

President Bashar al-Assad’s rule is essentially unchallenged in the country’s major cities, while several other areas of Syria remain outside his direct control.

They include Kurdish-majority areas in the east, which have been more or less separated from Syrian state control since the early years of the conflict.

Unrest continues, although relatively quiet, in the south, where the revolution against Assad’s rule began in 2011.

In Syria’s vast desert, the leaders of the group calling itself Islamic State remain a security threat, especially during truffle hunting season when people flock to the area in search of the delicacy. return high profits.

And in the northwest, Idlib province was seized there by militant groups at the height of the war.

HTS, the dominant force in Idlib, was the force that launched the surprise attack on Aleppo.

For years, Idlib remained a battleground as Syrian government forces tried to regain control.

But ceasefire agreement in 2020 brokered by Russiawhich has long been a key ally of Assad, and Türkiye, which backs the rebels, has largely held firm.

About four million people live there – most of them displaced from towns and cities that Assad’s forces took back from rebels in a brutal war of attrition.

Aleppo was one of the bloodiest battlefields and one of the biggest defeats for the rebels.

To win, Assad relied on Russian air power and Iranian military support on the ground – mainly through Iranian-funded militias.

These include Hezbollah.

There is little doubt that the defeat that Hezbollah recently suffered was due Israel attacks Lebanonas well as Israeli attacks on Iranian military commanders in Syria, played a key role in the decision by jihadist and rebel groups in Idlib to make the sudden, unexpected move into Aleppo.

HTS has long established its power base in Idlib, which is the de facto local government, although the group’s efforts toward legitimacy have been tarnished by accusations of humanitarian violations. rights.

It has also been involved in some bitter struggles with other groups.

Its ambitions beyond Idlib have become unclear.

Since severing ties with Al Qaeda, the organization’s goals have been limited to trying to establish fundamentalist Islamic rule in Syria instead of a broader caliphate as IS attempted but failed.

It showed little sign of efforts to reignite the conflict in Syria on a large scale and continue to challenge Assad’s rule over much of the country – until now.

Additional reporting by Maia Davies.