Washington — Rebel forces and allied militants launched a significant offensive last week against Syrian government forces in northwestern Syria, capturing Aleppo, the country’s second-largest city. This marks the largest escalation in Syria’s civil war since it began in 2011.
Aleppo, once known as Syria’s economic capital, had been controlled by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government since 2016, when government forces, aided by Iranian-backed militias and Russian airstrikes, drove out rebel forces from the eastern parts of the city.
Multiple rebel factions and militant groups participated in the battle for Aleppo, code-named Operation Deterrence of Aggression, and headed by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, an Islamist group that controls most of Idlib province in northwest Syria. Formerly known as al-Nusra Front, it was the main affiliate of al-Qaida in Syria until 2017, when it formally severed ties with the global terror group.
According to Aaron Zelin, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the group’s current ideology is rooted in local rather than global goals.
“I still consider them extremists. They still have some foreign fighters in their ranks, and they also backed Hamas' October 7 attack against Israel,” Zelin told VOA, referring to the attack carried out by the Palestinian militant group in 2023, which killed about 1,200 people.
HTS Is estimated to have up to 30,000 fighters, largely concentrated in northwestern Syria.
“They essentially situate themselves as what I describe as sort of these political jihadists, where theology no longer guides every action they do, like ISIS or al-Qaida, whereas they put in a lot more political considerations related to this, but they are still very much interested in jihad, as we can see the way that they frame this fight,” Zelin said, referring an acronym for the Islamic State.
“One of the ways that I look at the issue is that they essentially went from global jihad to a local regime,” he added.
Turkey-backed rebels
Among the other armed groups involved in the Aleppo offensive was the Syrian National Army, or SNA, an umbrella organization for several factions backed by Turkey.
The SNA was established in 2017 as the armed force of the Turkish-backed Syrian Interim Government, which had gained control of parts of northwestern Syria. The SNA previously took part in two Turkish-backed offensives against Kurdish forces in 2018 and 2019.
Some groups aligned with the SNA have been known for their radical Islamist ideology. Last year, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on the Suleiman Shah Brigade and the Hamza Division, two main factions within the SNA, for “serious human rights abuses against those residing in the Afrin region of northern Syria.”
Caroline Rose, director of the Strategic Blind Spots portfolio at the Washington-based New Lines Institute, said, “It appears that there is tentative, fragile collaboration between HTS and the SNA, following years of tension and infighting.
“While Turkey had belatedly intervened in the rivalry in respect to security in Syria’s northwest, it’s clear that Ankara invested in fostering greater partnership between HTS and the SNA to conduct this offensive into Aleppo,” she told VOA.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Monday during a press conference with his Iranian counterpart in Ankara that the latest escalation in Aleppo was the result of long-standing unresolved issues rather than external interventions. He attributed the violence to the Syrian government’s refusal to engage in dialogue with the opposition.
As the Aleppo offensive was launched, another was simultaneously announced by the Turkey-backed SNA against U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, in the northern countryside of Aleppo province, primarily around the town of Tel Rifaat. Turkey regards the SDF a terrorist organization.
Rose said these different priorities could determine whether the HTS-SNA partnership can last.
“While the SNA is pushing towards Tel Rifaat against SDF forces, HTS is concentrating on establishing proto governance in strategic locations in Aleppo,” she said. “Turkey will likely play on this rivalry and use it to its advantage as it seeks to redraw battle lines and create leverage with the Assad regime, the U.S., Iran and other actors engaging in Syria.”
Several other groups that operate independently are also part of the Aleppo offensive, including Ahrar al-Sham, a coalition of armed Islamist factions established at the beginning of Syria’s conflict. Another Islamist group, the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, emerged in Aleppo in 2014 and has maintained close ties with HTS.
This story originated in VOA’s Kurdish service.
