Haiʾat Tahrir ash-shame

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Haiʾat Tahrir ash-shame
هيئة تحرير الشام

Flag of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.svg

Flag of Haiʾat Tahrir ash-shame
Lineup 2017
Country Syria
Strength 20,000 (February 2020)
commander
Chairman Hashim al-Sheikh , battle name : Abu Jabir
Military commander Abu Muhammad al-Jaulani

Haiʾat Tahrir ash-shame (HTS, Arabic هيئة تحرير الشام Haiʾat Taḥrīr aš-Šām  'Committee for the Liberation of the Levant') is an extremist-Islamist alliance of various militias that arefightingin the civil war in Syria . It is viewed by a majority internationally as a terrorist organization, including Turkey, Canada and the USA. The Iranian government suspects Saudi Arabia and Qatar are supporting the jihadists.

Foundation and organization

It was established in early 2017 in response to the Astana peace talks that were backed by Turkey , Iran and Russia . Members of the alliance oppose any peace talks that do not include the resignation of Bashar al-Assad . Its founding members included the Liwa al-Haqq, Jaish al-Sunna, Jabhat Ansar ad-Din, Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki and the Jabhat Fatah asch-Sham , which is considered the greatest force within the alliance. Of their estimated 31,000 fighters, 20,000 belong to the Jabhat Fatah asch-Scham. This is considered the successor to the al-Nusra Front and is therefore subordinate to the Khorasan group , which in turn is considered the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda .

Development in the Syrian War

In January 2017, the alliance attacked other rebel groups and government troops. The first attacks on other rebels occurred at the Bab al-Hawa border crossing . In January, the alliance criticized Operation Euphrates Shield , which Turkey is backing. In early February, she began attacking FSA brigades participating in the operation.

In the course of February 2017, the offensive was mainly directed against the Salafist militia Ahrar al-Scham and the FSA brigades. Under the leadership of Ahrar al-Sham, these organized themselves into their own alliance (Jabhat Tahrir as-Suriya) in order to jointly offer resistance.

Despite the unification, Haiʾat Tahrir asch-Scham is covertly the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. This is one of the reasons why Syrian President Assad and his Russian allies continue to refer to the terror group as the al-Nusra Front.

The HTS was seen as the dominant force in the Idlib region in the summer of 2017 , but began to lose support in October with the start of the Turkish intervention in the region, when fighters from local groups began to split off under the impression of the Turkish action.

In September 2018, the Haiʾat Tahrir al-Sham controlled about 60 percent of the Idlib province in northwest Syria. Several thousand Europeans also fought in the jihadist militia.

At the beginning of January 2019, fighting flared up southwest of Aleppo between the HTS and the National Liberation Front (NLF), jihadist groups that had split off from the HTS and are supported by Turkey. The HTS was able to conquer some areas.

In February 2020, government troops initially succeeded in bringing the M5 expressway in Idlib under their control as part of the offensive they started in winter 2019. In the skirmishes, in which Turkish troops were increasingly involved, the HTS fighters, with around 20,000 men, formed the strongest local forces of the opposition.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Selcan Hacaoglu: "whats-at-stake-in-idlib-last-battle-in-syrias-war" Washington Post, February 27, 2020, accessed on February 27, 2020 (English).
  2. ↑ Tahrir al-Sham: Latest incarnation in Syria , BBC, February 28, 2017 (English)
  3. ^ Tahrir al-Sham: Al-Qaeda's latest incarnation in Syria
  4. ^ Confrontation between Turkey, Saudi Arabia Root Cause of Tensions among Terrorist Groups in Syria
  5. ↑ Leith Fadel: Al-Qaeda merges with former US supplied rebel forces in Syria. In: almasdarnews.com. January 28, 2017, accessed October 9, 2017.
  6. ↑ Syria Islamist factions, including former al Qaeda branch, join forces: statement. In: reuters.com. Reuters , January 28, 2017, accessed October 9, 2017.
  7. ↑ Thomas Joscelyn: Al Qaeda and allies announce 'new entity' in Syria. In: longwarjournal.org. Public Multimedia Inc., January 28, 2017, accessed October 9, 2017.
  8. ↑ Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham raids headquarters of a Division of the “Euphrates Shield” operations. In: syriahr.com. February 2, 2017, accessed October 9, 2017.
  9. ↑ Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi: The Formation of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and Wider Tensions in Syria's Insurgency.  ( Memento from March 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) In: rubincenter.com. February 22, 2017, accessed October 9, 2017.
  10. ↑ Syrian extremists ally. In: n-tv .de. RTL Group , January 28, 2017, accessed October 9, 2017.
  11. ↑ Al-Qaeda's Grand Plan for Syria Passes Through Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. In: stopterrorfinance.org. CATF Reports, February 14, 2017, archived from the original on April 30, 2017 ; accessed on October 9, 2017 (English).
  12. ↑ Hayat Tahrir al Sham: Syrian govt's toughest foe in Idlib
  13. ↑ Patrick Cockburn: While defeat of Isis dominates global attention, al-Qaeda strengthens in Syria. In: independent.co.uk. The Independent , September 6, 2017, accessed October 9, 2017.
  14. ↑ Turkey officially begins military operations. In: The daily newspaper . taz, the daily newspaper. Verlagsgenossenschaft eG, October 9, 2017, accessed on October 9, 2017 .
  15. ↑ For Turkey the loss of Idlib would be a low blow
  16. ↑ The jihadists conquer, Turkey is watching. Spiegel Online, January 8, 2019, accessed January 8, 2019 .