Gargari

Depends on the perspective I believe. They definitely are a lesser evil compared to SNA, because at least they are a disciplined force and not just gangs roaming the land looting, torturing as well as destroying cultural heritage and forests alike.

HTS confiscates lands, property of Druze community in Idlib - North press agency IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham faction (once known as al-Nusra Front) has confiscated agricultural land and houses in several Druze

npasyria.com/en/116729/
syriadirect.org/hts-looks-to...
stj-sy.org/ar/%D8%A5%D9...
spiegel.de/panorama/justi

Sources:
rojavainformationcenter.org/2023/06/when...
aymennjawad.org/2019/02/a-ha...
pomeps.org/the-consolid...
csis.org/blogs/examin...
warontherocks.com/2024/12/the-...
euaa.europa.eu/country-guid...
web.archive.org/web/2021061203

🔴 Women:
In the first years of the rule of HTS/Nusrah, a morality police was patrolling the streets. It also tried to make it a necessity for women to be accompanied by a male relative in public. With the attempt to clean up its international image, some bans were lifted.

26/26

🔴 Journalists:

Dissent is not accepted by HTS. Journalists who report critically on HTS will face arrest, and there are rumors of secret prisons and torture of those held there. As HTS is more disciplined than SNA, they are better at keeping such things secret.

25/26

There are videos of HTS interrogating them about their religious identity and threatening to decapitate them, hinting to the imminent danger of a massacre.

24/26

🔴 Shi'i:

Most alarmingly, HTS is currently holding Shi'i civilians - who fled from their captured hometowns Nubl and Zahra'a - captive, in the area of as-Safirah southeast of Aleppo.

23/26

Apart from these actions, Nusrah had attacked the Armenian town of Kassab in 2014, destroying churches, desecrating graves and expelling the Christian inhabitants.

22/26

Around Jisr ash-Shughur, at least 750 Christian houses are confiscated by HTS and Uyghur jihadists, as well as 550 more in the city of Idlib.

21/26

As second class citizens, they don't have right of political representation and there is a law that requires Christian farmers to leave 60% of the harvest to HTS, making it impossible to live from agriculture.

20/26

Some churches were also confiscated and used as militia headquarters.

19/26

🔴Christians:

Of Idlib's 10,000 Christians, only about 300 remain. Some wanted to return, but HTS did not grant them permission.

Furthermore, the Chistians of Idlib are forbidden to show their religious symbols, pray in public or ring their churches' bells.
18/26

While al-Jawlani repeatedly met with community members, encouraging them to tell their relatives to return, the appliances for return of property rarely ever succeed.
17/26

Since 2022, HTS reportedly confiscated over 5,500 hectares and 700 houses, with the latest confiscation campaign happening in September 2024.

Such so-called "spoils of war" are taken from the Christian population as well.
16/26

Al-Jawlani's recent outreach to the Druze community rings empty, as of the 32,000 Druze originally living there, only between 1,500 and 12,000 are left.

Some of their houses are now occupied by the families of foreign HTS jihadists.
15/26

🔴The Druze:
The Druze of the 18 villages of Jabal as-Summaq were forced to convert, their shrines destroyed and those who left were expropriated.

In June 2015, Nusrah massacred 23 Druze in Qalb Lawzah who protested the confiscation of properties.
14/26

🔴 Minorities:
In its takeover of Aleppo, HTS signaled that religious minorities would not have to fear repression.

A look to Idlib however tells a different story.

13/26

Also, there are frequent videos of HTS jihadists wearing IS patches. While this doesn't mean these are members of IS, it remains a nod to the most radical and inhumane strains of Islamist ideology.

12/26

In turn, HTS also has an outwards influence on Islamists in the world: For example, the Munich shooter from 5 September 2024 was radicalized by HTS channels.

11/26

🔴Connection to global Jihadism:

HTS also still fights with foreign Jihadists, mainly Uzbeks, Chechens, Algerians, Tunisians as well as Uyghurs in the TIP militia.

10/26

bsky.app/profile/warn...

Also, it serves to present a more moderate image to the international community.

Similar strategies were used by the Taliban, before taking over. The case of the Taliban can also tell us what may come after a takeover.

9/26

Strategically, HTS has taken a step back from immediately pushing its Salafi interpretations of Islamic law on society.

Reasons for that can be found in limited capacities that are needed on the frontlines and popular pressure.
8/26

Rejection of democracy is one of the key principles of HTS, it explicitly says democracy contradicts Islam.

The Shura council gets elected, but both the lists and the voters are pre-selected.
7/26

There are technocratic elements in the bureaucracy, coopting local elites, but there is no doubt on who has the last say.

There has been no change in leadership, its founder al-Jawlani still is the leader today.

6/26

🔴 Ideology:

Does HTS fight for a democratic Syria?

No. Its ideology remains a Salafi jihadist one.

The structures it built are an authoritarian theocracy with key HTS ideologues in leading positions.

5/26

The ties to al-Qaeda were in fact severed, as shown by the clashes with its other Syrian affiliate, Hurras ad-Din.

However, this doesn't mean there has been an ideological deradicalization. The US designated HTS as terrorist in 2018, the EU followed in 2020.

4/26

In 2017, Nusrah and a faction of Ahrar ash-Sham coalesced to form Hay'at Tahrir ash-Sham.

This latest restructuring also caused a split between HTS and al-Qaeda.

3/26

🔴History:

HTS was founded as Jabhat an-Nusrah in 2012, as an offshoot of the Islamic State, by Muhammad al-Jawlani, who still leads HTS today.

2013, IS and Nusrah separated, with Nusrah retaining its ties with al-Qaeda.

2/26

With the collapse of Assad's defense lines in #Aleppo and #Hama, many journalists in the Global North were overtaken by excitement, overlooking who is filling the void - or deliberately trivializing it.

But who is #HTS, the jihadist militia that humiliated Assad?

🧵1/26

A Kurdish man found after 12 years alive in a prison in Hama. Regime had issued him a death certificate and informed his family that he had been executed.