Rebelles conquer Syria's second largest city: Who are they?

Rebelles conquer Syria's second largest city: Who are they?

eight years after the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, the Situation for President Bashar al-Assad has changed decisively. A Russian lightning campaign in Aleppo helped him to regain control of the second largest city in the country. In just over 72 hours, a coalition of Syrian armed uprising groups, which operated under the banner of "deterrent aggression", conquered the city in a surprising attack. This represents a significant setback for Assad and triggers a significant escalation of a previously largely dormant war.

The coalition of the rebels

The rebel coalition is made up of well -established Islamist armed factions, which, despite their differences, combat militias supported against Assad, ISIS and Iran. In the following we present some of the groups that are part of this coalition.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)

The most prominent and formidable group among the rebels is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), also known as the organization for the liberation of the Levant. HTS was founded by Abu Mohammad Al-Jolani, a military leader who gained experience as a young fighter for Al-Qaida during the US invasion in Iraq before he was captured and imprisoned.

After his release, he traveled to Syria to found Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian offshoot of al-Qaida. He led this group until a public separation from al-Qaida in 2016, which was based on ideological differences and the opposition to ISIS. Jolani then formed HTS.

Despite Jolani's efforts to distance his new group of Al-Qaida and ISIS, HTS 2018 was classified as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States and other western countries. A bounty of $ 10 million was suspended on Jolani. Over the years, Jolani grew influence, despite internal power struggles and local rivalries. After the loss of Aleppo to the Syrian regime in 2016, HTS experienced serious setbacks and was limited to the city of Idlib, which has a population of 4 million mostly from displaced persons. In an interview with PBS in 2021, Jolani rejected the terrorist name and emphasized that his group was not a threat to Western or European Society.

"(HTS) primarily gained control of most economic sectors in Idlib and was able to build up an empire. They are a more independent force than many other groups," said Natasha Hall, Senior Fellow in the Middle East program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies based in Washington. According to Hall, HTS was mainly responsible for the offensive on Aleppo last week.

The 'Syrian National Army' (SNA)

One of the main groups in the coalition involved in the offensive on Aleppo is the "Syrian National Army", an umbrella organization that includes dozens of political groups with different ideologies and is financed and armed by Turkey. This coalition has developed into a group of deputy for Turkey and includes the national liberation front, which also includes factions such as Ahrar al-Sham, the declared goal of which is to overthrow the Assad regime and to erect an Islamic state under Sharia law.

experts consider Ahrar al-sham as a moderate Islamist group. After the reconquest of Aleppo last week, the deputy commander of the group, Ahmed al-Dalati, gathered Muslim leaders in a mosque to give instructions and called on to protect the ethnic and religious minorities of the city.

"The instructions of the high command of the military surgery are strict and clear. It is forbidden to harm anyons or to intervene in their property ... not only Muslims, but to all other, be it Christians or Armenians or any other sect that is present in Aleppo. ... Nobody can approach them," he said.

Kurdish forces have been involved in a conflict with Turkey for decades. In its tensions with the Kurdish fighters, Turkey launched several military operations against the Kurdistan workers' party (PKK), a militant classified group. Hall pointed out that Syrian groups that rely on Turkey have become problematic because they focus on Kurdish-controlled areas instead of contacting the Assad regime.

"Due to the complete dependency on Turkey, they do not fight for the Syrian people, but for the Turkish government. ... They focused on Kurdish -controlled areas instead of fighting against the (Assad) regime, against which all these groups and fighters originally fought," said Hall.