Eight years ago, Syria\u2019s civil war shifted in President Bashar Al-Assad\u2019s favor after a Russian blitzkrieg on Aleppo helped him regain control over the country\u2019s second biggest city. <\/p>\n
In just over 72-hours last week, a coalition of Syrian armed rebel groups operating under the banner of Deterrence of Aggression captured the city in a surprise attack, dealing a significant blow to Assad and causing a major escalation to a largely dormant war. <\/p>\n
The rebel coalition consists of well-established armed Islamist factions who, despite their differences, are united in fighting Assad, ISIS and Iran-backed militias. <\/p>\n
Here are some of the groups forming the coalition. <\/p>\n
The most prominent and formidable one of those rebel groups is Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), also known as the Organization for the Liberation of the Levant. HTS was founded by Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, a military commander who gained experience as a young fighter for al Qaeda against the United States in Iraq during the US invasion before his capture and imprisonment in Iraq. <\/p>\n
Upon his release, he travelled to Syria to create Jabhat al-Nusra, al Qaeda\u2019s Syrian affiliate and operated the group until a public split with al Qaeda in 2016 over ideological differences and opposition to ISIS. Jolani then formed HTS in early 2017. <\/p>\n
Despite Jolani\u2019s effort to distance his new group from al Qaeda and ISIS, the United States and other Western countries designated the HTS a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2018 and placed a $10 million bounty on him. <\/p>\n
Over the years Jolani\u2019s influence grew despite bouts of infighting and local rivalries. Rebel groups were delivered a severe blow after the loss of Aleppo to the Syrian regime in 2016. HTS was constricted to Idlib, a city in northwestern Syria with a population of 4 million, mostly those displaced by the infighting across Syria. In a 2021 PBS interview, Jolani rejected the terrorist designation, saying his group does not pose a \u201cthreat to Western or European society.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201c(HTS) has been able to build that empire by primarily controlling most of the economic sectors in Idlib. \u2026 They are more of an independent force than many groups,\u201d Natasha Hall, senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Washington DC based Center for Strategic and International Studies. <\/p>\n
HTS was primarily responsible for the offensive on Aleppo last week, Hall said. <\/p>\n
One main coalition group taking part in the offensive on Aleppo is the \u201cSyrian National Army,\u201d an umbrella group incorporating dozens of factions with various ideologies that receive funding and arms from Turkey. <\/p>\n
That coalition has become a proxy group for Turkey, and includes the National Liberation Front, which includes factions like Ahrar al-Sham who\u2019s stated aims are to \u201coverthrow the (Assad) regime\u201d and \u201cestablish an Islamic state governed by Sharia law.\u201d <\/p>\n
Experts consider Ahrar Al Sham to be a moderate Islamist group. After last week\u2019s capture of Aleppo, the group\u2019s deputy commander Ahmed al-Dalati gathered Muslim leaders in a mosque to deliver instructions and called on them to protect ethnic and religious minorities of the city. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe instructions of the general command of the military operations department are strict and clear. It is forbidden to harm anyone or encroach on their property\u2026 not just Muslims, but everyone else, whether Christians or Armenians or any sect present in Aleppo. \u2026 No one is to come close to them,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Kurdish forces have been embroiled in a long-running conflict with Turkey. In its decades of tension with the Kurdish fighters, Turkey launched several military operations against the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party (PKK), a militant group that Turkey deems terrorist. <\/p>\n
Hall said Syrian groups relying on Turkey has become \u201cproblematic\u201d as it sets its target on Kurdish controlled areas instead of the Assad regime. <\/p>\n
\u201cBeing entirely reliant on Turkey, rather than fighting the good fight for the Syrian people they\u2019re fighting the fight for the Turkish government. \u2026 They have set their targets on Kurdish controlled areas rather than the (Assad) regime, which is what all these groups and fighters had initially been fighting,\u201d Hall said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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