An Islamic Rebel Leader Rises, Challenging Syria’s Dictator
An Islamic militant group has made rapid advances across northwest Syria, seizing territory from the regime of President Bashar al-Assad in a dramatic evolution of a thirteen-year-old conflict that had appeared to be frozen.
The swift gains by the fighting group Hayat Tahrir ash-Sham, also known as HTS, began with attacks last Wednesday against government forces in northwestern Syria. By Saturday, the militants had gained control of Aleppo — Syria’s second largest city — and had pushed south to Hama, a major city on the highway south to Damascus.
“HTS is putting a huge military effort into these advances,” says Wassim Nasr, a senior researcher who specializes in jihadist groups in the Middle East and North Africa at the Soufan Center, a global risk and security consultancy. “They are using their best equipped units and advanced drone capabilities to retake ghost villages lost by the rebels years ago, after the push by Shia militias affiliated with Iran.”
Millions have been displaced in years of fighting across Syria, with many fleeing to Turkey or to relatively stable rebel-controlled areas. Many abandoned their hometowns, which were occupied by government militias and Iranian proxies, like Hezbollah. But with Israel having eviscerated Hezbollah’s leadership beginning in September, only a shell remained to hold off the rebels.
“Kids who grew up as displaced refugees are now returning home as fighters,” Nasr tells Rolling Stone.
