Who’re the Syrian rebels Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS?

Insurgent forces entered the Syrian capital Damascus with experiences that President Bashar al-Assad had fled the nation by aircraft to an unknown vacation spot.

In a tv announcement, the group stated the town had been “liberated, the tyrant Bashar al-Assad has been overthrown.”

“Lengthy dwell a free and impartial Syria for all Syrians of all faiths,” they added.

The lightning offensive, led by Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, started with the sudden seize of Aleppo on the finish of November. It appears she ended the eating regimen in lower than two weeks.

In lots of circumstances, it seems that the Syrian military has left its publish or defected to the opposition.

The preliminary assault was carried out by the Islamist militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which has an extended historical past concerned within the Syrian battle.

HTS is designated as a terrorist group by the UN, the USA, Turkey and different international locations.

HTS was created below one other title, Jabhat al-Nusrain 2011 as a direct affiliate of Al-Qaeda.

The chief of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadiadditionally participated in his coaching.

It was thought of some of the efficient and lethal teams opposing President Assad.

However its jihadist ideology appeared to be its driving pressure relatively than its revolutionary zeal – and it was then seen as at odds with the primary insurgent coalition below the banner of Free Syria.

And in 2016, the group's chief, Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, publicly broke ranks with al-Qaeda, dissolved Jabhat al-Nusra and created a new organizationwhich took the title Hayat Tahrir al-Sham when it merged with a number of different related teams a yr later.

For a while now, HTS has established its energy base within the northwestern province of Idlib, the place it constitutes the de facto native administration, though its efforts for legitimacy have been tarnished by allegations of human rights violations.

It was additionally concerned in bitter infighting with different teams.

Its ambitions past Idlib had turn into unclear.

Since its break with al-Qaeda, its focus has been restricted to making an attempt to determine a fundamentalist Islamic regime in Syria relatively than a broader caliphate, as ISIS has unsuccessfully tried to do.

Up to now, the nation has proven no indicators of making an attempt to reignite the full-scale Syrian battle and problem Assad's rule over a lot of the nation.

In March 2011, pro-democracy protests broke out within the southern metropolis of Daraa, impressed by neighboring international locations' uprisings in opposition to repressive leaders.

When the Syrian authorities used deadly pressure to crush dissent, protests demanding the president's resignation erupted throughout the nation.

The unrest unfold and repression intensified. Opposition supporters took up arms, first to defend themselves, then to clear their areas of safety forces. Mr. Assad has pledged to crush what he calls “foreign-backed terrorism.”

A whole bunch of insurgent teams arose, international powers started to take sides, and extremist jihadist organizations such because the Islamic State (IS) group and Al-Qaeda grew to become concerned.

Violence rapidly escalated and the nation descended right into a full-scale civil struggle drawing in regional and international powers.

Greater than half one million folks have been killed and 12 million compelled to flee their properties, round 5 million of whom are refugees or asylum seekers overseas.

The struggle in Syria appeared to be over for 4 years.

President Bashar al-Assad's rule was largely unchallenged within the nation's main cities, whereas different elements of Syria remained outdoors his direct management.

These embrace the Kurdish-majority areas of the east, which have been kind of separated from Syrian state management because the early years of the battle.

Unrest continued, though comparatively muted, within the south, the place the revolution in opposition to Assad's rule started in 2011.

Within the huge Syrian desert, resistance fighters from the group calling itself Islamic State nonetheless pose a safety risk, notably through the truffle searching season, when folks journey to the area to search out the profitable delicacy.

And within the northwest, the province of Idlib is within the arms of militant teams who established themselves there on the top of the struggle.

It was HTS, the dominant pressure in Idlib, which launched the shock assault on Aleppo.

For a number of years, Idlib remained a battleground as Syrian authorities forces tried to regain management.

However a ceasefire agreement in 2020 negotiated by Russiawhich has lengthy been Assad's key ally, and Turkey, which has supported the rebels, have largely held their very own.

About 4 million folks dwell there, principally displaced from cities that Assad's forces retook from rebels in a brutal struggle of attrition.

Aleppo was one of many bloodiest battlefields and represented one of many rebels' greatest defeats.

To attain victory, President Assad couldn’t rely solely on the nation's under-equipped and poorly motivated conscript military, which rapidly discovered itself dangerously stretched and recurrently unable to carry its floor in opposition to insurgent assaults.

As a substitute, it has come to rely closely on Russian air energy and Iranian army help on the bottom – primarily via Tehran-sponsored militias.

Amongst them, Hezbollah.

There isn’t any doubt that the current setback suffered by Hezbollah The Israeli offensive in Lebanonin addition to Israeli strikes in opposition to Iranian army commanders in Syria, performed an necessary position within the resolution of jihadist and insurgent teams in Idlib to hold out a sudden and sudden motion on Aleppo.

In current months, The occupying Zionist entity has intensified its assaults on Iran-linked teams in addition to their provide strains, inflicting severe injury on the networks that preserve these militias, together with Hezbollah, operational in Syria.

With out them, President Assad's forces had been uncovered.