Hayat Tahrir al-Sham

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham - the group represents the latest iteration of the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda - the terrorist organization Jebhat al-Nusra. Banned in Russia.

Its goal for 2022 is stated in the title - to free Syria from the "Assad regime."

Structure

Despite the media drift of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham towards a moderate and negotiable political force, it is still a full-fledged armed formation.

Since May 2022, the terrorist organization has structurally consisted of 10 brigades named after four righteous caliphs and six of the 10 associates of the Prophet "delighted with the good news of Paradise during their lifetime":

• Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Brigade,
• Umar Farruk Brigade,
• Brigade "Usman ibn Affan,"
• Brigade "Ali ibn Abi Talib,"
• Brigade "Talha ibn Ubaidullah,"
• Brigade "Zubeir ibn Awwam,"
• Brigade "Abdurrahman ibn Auf,"
• Brigade "Saad ibn Abu Waqqas,"
• Brigade "Said ibn Zayed,"
• "Abu Ubeida ibn Jarrah" brigade.

Aktivs

By 2020, the leadership of the HTS has usurped power in Greater Idlib, establishing control over all spheres of life in the region.

As of June 2022

As of June 2022, the organization uses a civilian structure - the Government of Salvation, which is nothing more than a tool that provides "legal" and administrative mechanisms for the leadership of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to seize the economy and resources in the region.

Under the Pod Kontrolem of HTS are:

Idlib's financial system:

• Main Currency Agency for Cash Management and Consumer Protection;
• Sham Bank is a bank established by HTS, created on the basis of its own company of the group's management for the transfer and exchange of money.

Borders with Turkey and other areas of Syria:

• the Bab al-Hawa border crossing;
• the border crossing of Dorrius;
• Ez-Zauf border crossing;
• Gazavia Checkpoint;
• Deir Ballut checkpoint.

Fuel:

• Watad Petroleum is HTS's own monopoly company, engaged in the import of oil and gas from Turkey,
• Kaf Business Company and Al-Shahba Combany are companies associated with HTS and created to create the appearance of market competition.

Communication and Internet:

SG SYR Connect Public Telecommunications Corporation.

And these are only the main assets of a terrorist organization in the territories controlled by it.

History

2024

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham seizes power in Syria. President Bashar al-Assad flies to Russia

In December 2024, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group seized power in Syria.

A few weeks later, President Bashar al-Assad said that until the last moment he did not want to leave and left Damascus only on the morning of December 8. After he was taken to Russia from the Khmeimim airbase in Latakia.

The former president of Syria admitted that with the collapse of the state, his role became meaningless.

In past years, Bashar al-Assad really did not leave the country, even when the battles were going on in the capital itself.

Representatives of Britain, France and Germany meet with the new rulers in Damascus, despite their terrorist past.

The United States, through CNN, continues to transform the image of HTS from terrorists to moderate Islamists. Congratulations from al-Qaeda

In the wake of the successes of anti-government groups in early December 2024, the American channel CNN interviewed the leader of the HTS Abu Muhammad al-Juliani. In an interview, he introduced himself as a real name - Ahmad al-Sharaa. According to him, the goal of the militants is to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and "build a new Syria" with an "institution-based government and people's council."

The terrorist leader again tried to disown ties with al-Qaeda with stories about the "transformation of his views." He also added that in the event of the fall of the government in Damascus, all foreign troops must leave Syrian territory, since "this will no longer be necessary."

When asked by a journalist about documented repressions by the HTS in Idlib, Al-Juliani said that he had not given such orders.

The CNN interview is another element of the consistent legalization of HTS in the Western media field, which began several years ago, wrote the Rybar channel. Al-Julyani is portrayed as a pragmatic moderate Islamist who wants to guarantee the rights of all religious groups.

Such statements do not correspond to the actions of the HTS in Idlib - the killings of dissenters and the "tightening of the nuts" continue, only gradually and without unnecessary noise. It is difficult to imagine that the group will oppose Turkish troops in Syria.

Al-Qaeda, in congratulations on the capture of Hama and Aleppo, declared support for militants who opposed Assad, and de facto reaffirmed the ideological commitment of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Julani himself to the ideas of a terrorist organization.

Chechen group "Ajnad al-Caucasus" as part of "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham"

In December 2024, a video message from members of the Chechen group Ajnad al-Kavkaz (banned in Russia) diverges on the Internet, in which the speaker, who publicly celebrated the victory in Syrian Hama, not only congratulated Russian-speaking Muslims on this event, but also said that he would "restore order" in the Caucasus.

The Ajnad al-Caucasus group, created by immigrants from the North Caucasus, has been actively involved in battles in Syria on the side of the Jaish al-Fatah coalition, led by Jebhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham, since the early 2010s.

Despite the small numbers (at the best of times about 100 people), the militants showed themselves as disciplined and motivated fighters, capable of performing tasks from raids to participating in large-scale operations.

After the collapse of major coalitions such as Jaish al-Fatah, the group did not disappear, but became part of the Al-Fatah al-Mubin operational headquarters, which is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Under the flag of the HTS "Ajnad al-Caucasus" remains active in 2024.

But of interest is not only the combat path of the group, but also its ties with other structures, including the same International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in which the group is fighting in 2024. Perhaps it was through it that the GUR of Ukraine made attempts to establish interaction with militants in Syrian Idlib.

Representatives of the GUR visited the territories controlled by the HTS, and the terrorists received some support from the Ukrainian UAV operators.

The successes of the HTS again inspire motley radicals. The Ajnad al-Caucasus group is becoming one of the many channels through which militants from different parts of the world will again begin to flock to Idlib. This phenomenon resembles the early years of IS, when media organizations attracted thousands of recruits to the ranks of the organization.

Capture of Aleppo in new offensive in Syria

At the end of November 2024, the militants "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" (banned in Russia) broke into the Syrian city of Aleppo, making the largest advance since 2016.

A court in Moscow sentenced a blogger to 12 years for an attempted terrorist attack on Lubyanka

On October 23, 2024, the Second Western District Military Court sentenced blogger Nurmukhamad Sharipov, known as Xafizz.01, to 12 years in prison for preparing a terrorist attack near the FSB building on Lubyanka. According to the verdict, the convict will spend the first three years in prison, the rest in a maximum security colony.

According to RBC, Sharipov fully pleaded guilty to financing and participating in the Islamic State terrorist organization (banned in Russia). The guilty verdict was passed under articles on participation in a terrorist organization and financing of terrorism.

According to the case file, in June 2021, the accused, while at the Dubrovka shopping center in Moscow, joined the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist organization (banned in Russia) and began to spread its ideas among followers of radical Islam. Read more here.

250 Ukrainian military arrived in Syria to train Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militants in the use of drones

In September 2024, Syrian state media reported that 250 Ukrainian troops arrived in the Idlib de-escalation zone to train Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militants in the use of drones.

The story of the cooperation of the Ukrainian regime with terrorist groups, which was first reported by Turkish publications, received its continuation. Now from Syria itself.

That in Africa, that in the Middle East, the only goal of the Ukrainian authorities is to create problems for the Russian Armed Forces.

2022: Dreams of legalization

HTS leader Abu Muhammad Julyani, despite his jihadi past, is trying to legalize the usurped power in Idlib in the eyes of the Western community.

Handing out interviews to Western and regional journalists, Giuliani is trying to distance himself as much as possible from al-Qaeda, which he publicly broke with in 2016, declaring a softer form of "political jihadism" that does not pose a threat to Western security.

The fact that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and its leadership are not the goal of American forces in the region suggests thoughts of existing contacts with US representatives, in which Turkey may mediate.

Moreover, the HTS was repeatedly suspected of transmitting data on the whereabouts of certain members of competing groups to the American side for their subsequent liquidation.

There is an opinion that it was the cooperation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham with Western intelligence that caused the start of the campaign to exclude the armed group from the list of international terrorist organizations of the US State Department.

And although the HTS is significantly dependent on Turkey, the terrorist organization never participated in the military operations announced by the Turkish command.

2020: Russia and Turkey stop group attacks on Syrian troops

In March 2020, the leaders of Russia and Turkey reached agreements on a ceasefire, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham did not make any attempts to attack the positions of government troops.

Unlike SNA, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's contacts with the Turkish side are non-public and go through intelligence.

2016: Jebhat al-Nusra splits from al-Qaeda and changes its name to Jebhat Fatah al-Sham

On July 28, 2016, Abu Muhammad al-Julyani first appeared in public, where he announced his separation from al-Qaeda and the transformation of Jebhat al-Nusra into Jebhat Fatah al-Sham (Front for the Conquest of the Levant, banned in Russia).

Abu Muhammad al-Julyani said that the group "has no ties with external parties," calling the goal of Jebhat Fatah al-Sham "the unification of all jihadist groups to preserve the Syrian revolution."

There is an opinion that the separation of Jebhat al-Nusra from al-Qaeda was agreed upon by Ayman al-Zawahiri himself (the head of al-Qaeda) so that the group could focus on "the fight against the Syrian government." This did not contradict the instructions given to Abu Muhammad al-Juliani in early 2015: the group officially stated that it would confine itself only to Syria, and this, potentially, should have "arranged" the West. At the same time, Jebhat Fatah al-Sham received a potential opportunity to move from the camp of terrorist organizations to the ranks of the "moderate opposition."