Syrian insurgent forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, declared they’d ousted President Bashar al-Assad and he had fled Damascus on Sunday.
However what’s HTS, and the way did it rock the long-simmering tensions in Syria? HTS is a Sunni Islamist militant and political group that traces its roots to the start of the Syrian civil struggle.
HTS is taken into account a terrorist group globally, designated a International Terrorist Group by the U.S. State Division in May 2018. It has fractured connections to each al-Qaeda and the Islamic State terror teams.
HTS’ precursor group, Jabhat al-Nusra, was shaped in Syria in 2011 as an al-Qaeda affiliate in opposition to Assad, in line with the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research, a Washington-based assume tank. Nevertheless, in July 2016, Jabhat al-Nusra dissolved and formally severed its public ties with al-Qaeda, and the re-formed group finally merged with others within the area to ascertain HTS in January 2017.
Right now, HTS says that it’s “an unbiased entity that follows no group or celebration, al-Qaeda or others,” however doubts remain about whether or not there’s nonetheless a hyperlink between the 2 teams, in line with the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research.
Since saying its independence from al-Qaeda, the group’s targets have been to topple Assad and expel Iran from the world to be able to set up Islamic rule in Syria. HTS is Syria’s strongest insurgent group and a few Syrians stay fearful it is going to impose draconian Islamist rule or instigate reprisals within the space.
HTS spearheaded the newest insurgent offensive in opposition to the Syrian president. However the nation has seen a civil struggle rage since 2011, rising out of Assad’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests on the time.
Greater than a decade later, about half one million individuals have been killed, in line with The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.Okay.-based monitoring group. Thousands and thousands of Syrians have fled abroad. Key infrastructure lay in ruins.
On Sunday night, rebels introduced they’d gained full management of the important thing metropolis of Homs after solely a day of preventing.
The autumn of Homs got here after a brand new Syrian insurgent offensive that began about 10 days in the past. It gave insurgents management over Syria’s strategic heartland and a key freeway crossroads, severing Damascus from a coastal area that is key to the ability of Assad’s Alawite sect. The Alawites are a Muslim minority group who’ve dominated Syria for many years.
Contributing: Reuters; Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY
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