It appears the earlier security campaigns to trace down foreign fighters carried out by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in its areas of management in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib had been merely a political present.
Current statements by HTS chief Abu Mohammed al-Golani present that the group might not be prepared to surrender on these operatives.
In a Sept. 5 interview with The Independent, in its Turkish model, Golani spoke about overseas fighters and the Islamic State’s (IS) actions in Syria and their affect on the course of army occasions, in addition to concerning the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.
Answering a query about whether or not there’s a place for overseas fighters in the way forward for Syria, Golani praised these fighters’ help for the struggle in opposition to the Syrian authorities and promised to not abandon them.
“These fighters at the moment are a part of us. They’re a part of the individuals. They’re pleased with the individuals and the persons are pleased with them, too. They don’t pose a risk to their nations. They’re right here underneath the coverage that we established, which isn’t based mostly on hostility to any nation. We have now enmity with those that occupied Syria and killed Syrians. We’re additionally preventing them contained in the borders of Syria. Our immigrant brothers at the moment are a part of us, and we’ll shield them in line with our faith and tradition,” Golani mentioned.
The HTS chief believes that IS was the one cause behind the West’s unhealthy view of Islam, accusing the terrorist group of fueling Islamophobia — one thing that significantly harmed the Syrian revolution.
International fighters fought within the ranks of many opposition factions in Syria and had a task in designating some teams as terrorists, akin to HTS, Jund al-Aqsa and Hurras al-Din (Guardians of Faith Group).
Abbas Sharifa, a researcher within the jihadist teams’ affairs on the Jusoor Center for Studies in Istanbul, instructed Al-Monitor, “Golani’s statements will be seen within the context of an anticipated battle in Idlib, particularly after the current bombing of Jabal al-Zawiya. HTS would wish extra fighters in any fierce battle that would escape in Syria. However this doesn’t imply that HTS would permit them [foreign fighters] to ascertain a robust army formation exterior HTS’ management, as this is able to be an existential risk to the group.”
He mentioned, “Golani desires to maintain the overseas fighters’ card up his sleeve and is attempting to ship a message to the West that he’s attempting to maintain these fighters in test, however may additionally use this huge variety of operatives to threaten world peace, if he was confronted with a world try and eradicate him or not acknowledge him even. Golani may additionally use these fighters within the face of different factions that chorus from obeying HTS’ orders.”
HTS has been lately cracking down on jihadist teams working independently from the group, pressuring them to return underneath its umbrella or dissolve themselves and depart from Idlib. This was the case of the Jundallah group, which was dissolved and its chief, Muslim al-Shishani, requested to depart Syria.
As for the opposite teams, akin to Ansar al-Tawhid, the Turkestan Islamic Get together, Ajnad al-Kavkaz and Uzbek groups, they continue to be loyal to HTS and work underneath its supervision. In the meantime, al-Qaeda-affiliated Hurras al-Din, a rival to HTS, was dissolved.
Taqi al-Din Omar, HTS’ media relations workplace director, instructed Al-Monitor, “The earlier army crackdowns carried out by HTS focused one group, which is Jund al-Sham, led by Muslim al-Shishani, who refused at hand over some wished males. It was not a common coverage in opposition to non-Syrian fighters. HTS’ earlier acts had been extra politically motivated, and don’t replicate the details on the bottom. Right now, there is a chance to appropriate this.”
Whereas HTS’ sporadic crackdown on jihadist teams in Idlib will be seen as indicators of goodwill for the worldwide neighborhood, these actions are primarily aimed toward additional consolidating HTS’ rule by eliminating staunch enemies and dissenting voices, in line with an article within the Middle East Institute Policy Brief by Orwa Ajjoub, a former scholar at Sweden’s Lund College.
“It’s been over a 12 months that HTS has begun its crackdown on extremist teams in a bid to implement Astana’s agendas in preventing radical factions and have interaction within the political course of and understandings with stakeholders within the area, in cooperation with Turkey,” Ajjoub instructed Al-Monitor.
“These teams rejected HTS’ cooperation and coordination with Turkey. I don’t consider that Golani’s newest statements had been conflicting. He meant that he would preserve the fighters which can be affiliated with HTS who agreed to the excellent worldwide understandings between Turkey, Russian and Iran. There are numerous overseas senior leaders which can be near HTS and its chief,” he mentioned.
Ajjoub added, “HTS has been specializing in rearranging its affairs in its governmental establishments and is leaping at any alternative to current itself, regionally and internationally, as the one group able to managing the world. HTS can be attempting to make the most of the current Taliban occasions and the way they managed to take management of your complete state, to current an analogous mannequin that may be internationally acknowledged. The help [that came into Syria] by means of the crossings is seen as an oblique recognition of HTS.”
HTS welcomed the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan, 20 years after the group was defeated by the hands of the US forces.
In an Aug. 18 assertion, HTS mentioned, “We congratulate our brothers within the Taliban and our individuals in Afghanistan for this conquest, asking God to grant the Syrian revolution an analogous resounding victory, by which the land can be liberated and justice would prevail underneath the Sharia of the Most Merciful.”
