{"id":2383392,"date":"2024-12-24T13:11:01","date_gmt":"2024-12-24T18:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-al-qaeda-members-take-control-of-syria-everything-you-need-to-know\/"},"modified":"2024-12-24T13:13:13","modified_gmt":"2024-12-24T18:13:13","slug":"former-al-qaeda-members-take-control-of-syria-everything-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-al-qaeda-members-take-control-of-syria-everything-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Al-Qaeda Members Take Control of Syria: Everything You Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fformer-al-qaeda-members-take-control-of-syria-everything-you-need-to-know%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2383392&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In\u200d the wake\u2063 of \u200dthe recent collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, bashar Al-Assad has fled \u200cthe country, leading to the \u2064emergence of new leaders, notably Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and its affiliates. The group, led by Abu Mohammad Al-Julani,\u2063 has gained\u2064 control over a significant portion of Syria, previously a stronghold of the Assad dynasty. Al-Julani, who has roots in Al-Qaeda, transitioned from fighting Western \u2064forces in Iraq to opposing Assad upon returning to Syria. <\/p>\n<p>HTS originated from the Nusra Front, which split from Al-Qaeda in 2016 to focus more acutely on the Syrian conflict. Despite its\u200b radical Islamist background, HTS distinguished itself by advocating for unity among rebel factions against\u2064 common foes like Assad&#8217;s regime and \u2062ISIS, using unconventional tactics for a militant group, including\u200b collaboration with local authorities. <\/p>\n<p>Capitalizing on the distraction of \u2063Assad&#8217;s allies, Russia and Iran, HTS launched an \u200doffensive that culminated \u200bin\u2062 capturing Damascus, prompting \u200bAssad\u2064 to seek asylum \u2064in Moscow. \u2062With HTS now positioned as the\u200b de facto ruler of Syria, the country faces a bleak future, potentially exchanging one form of tyranny for\u200c another, reminiscent of a tragic cycle of oppression.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>In recent days, new leaders have come to town in Syria. The Assad Dynasty has crumbled, and its former high-rolling leader Bashar Al-Assad has fled the nation.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/us-military-begins-launching-strikes-assad-flees-syria\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">His tyrannical regime<\/a> was hijacked by less diplomatic tyrants, how ironic. Although Assad has a reputation of barbarism, nothing compares to the new leaders of the majority of the Syrian land, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham and its allies.<\/p>\n<p>HTS sprang to action with its anti-Assad buddies to take over a massive chunk of the Syrian land mass. Now being one of the largest conquerors of the Syrian land, the international community should know who they are, who they were, and what they do.<\/p>\n<p>Syria&rsquo;s new leader, the leader of HTS, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Abu-Mohammad-al-Jolani\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Abu Mohammad Al-Julani<\/a>. Al-Julani is affiliated with the controversial Al-Qaeda terrorist organization.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning his journey to Islamic radicalization by joining the Nusra Front, a local Syrian branch of the Al-Qaeda terror network.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>In 2003 he headed to Baghdad to fight against Western forces in Iraq. In the early 2010s he returned to his homeland, Syria, where he used his militant experience to fight against the dictator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/elites-trash-gabbard-assad-meeting-look-whose-portrait-just-hung-state-department\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bashar Al-Assad<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/crsreports.congress.gov\/product\/pdf\/IF\/IF11854\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Al-Qaeda<\/a> branches began to break away and pursue their own interest, including ISIS. As ISIS did a few years before, the <a href=\"https:\/\/mappingmilitants.org\/profiles\/hayat-tahrir-al-sham-formerly-jabhat-al-nusra#narrative\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nusra Front<\/a> broke away from Al-Qaeda in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>This split does not mean that members of the Nusra Front lost their radical Islamist identity or ideology; it simply means that Al-Qaeda wasn&rsquo;t focusing enough on the goal of their branch, which was to take Syria from the hands of Al-Assad.<\/p>\n<p>Although the Nusra Front never lost its terroristic ideology, it did drop one aspect of its group. It changed its name and was known as the Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham. The following year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csis.org\/programs\/former-programs\/warfare-irregular-threats-and-terrorism-program-archives\/terrorism-backgrounders\/hayat-tahrir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a super merger<\/a> of the groups Liwa Al-Haqq, Jaysh Al-Sunna, Jaysh Al-Ahrar, and Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham took place.<\/p>\n<p>The merger of these four key radical factions birthed a new organization, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.<\/p>\n<p>HTS quickly rose to prominence, securing the title of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/man-released-from-syrian-prison-in-cnn-report-actually-assad-officer-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Man released from Syrian prison in CNN report actually Assad officer - Washington Examiner\">largest rebel faction<\/a> in Northern Syria.<\/p>\n<p>Although HTS was involved in trivial disputes with other rebel groups, what set it apart from the rest is that it called for peace and unity among the rebel groups to prevail against their common enemies &mdash; such as the Assad regime, Al-Qaeda (who became a general competitor in the area), and ISIS (who became a competitor in Northern Syria).<\/p>\n<p>As HTS grew, so did its call for unity to defeat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/3-pics-shut-every-single-dem-criticizing-gabbard-assad-visit\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Assad<\/a>. It became exceedingly clear to Syrians in the region that its objective was to win Syria for its terror aligned interests, even if it had to abandon its petty fights with other Islamist rebels.<\/p>\n<p>An interesting bit about HTS is that it used unconventional methods, for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/actblue-facilitating-donations-to-terror-tied-charity-legal-group-says\/\" title=\"ActBlue Facilitating Donations to Terror-Tied Charity, Legal Group Says\">terror organization<\/a>, to take out its enemies. Its methods included working with established authorities like <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">counter-terrorism groups<\/a> and police forces in areas it controlled to drive out competing militants in the area.<\/p>\n<p>It also employed the techniques of centralized government. One example is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2024\/12\/15\/what-to-know-about-syrias-new-caretaker-government\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Syrian Salvation Government<\/a>, founded in 2017, which HTS used to implement more of its terroristic tactics &mdash; albeit with some sort of legality.<\/p>\n<p>This governmental structure continued to grow as the group attempted to forge relationships with Kurds and the Turks; however, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/ce313jn453zo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Turkey<\/a> still recognized HTS as a terrorist group despite its attempts at a relationship to fight against insurgence within Al-Qaeda groups.<\/p>\n<p>However, by 2020 HTS was very explicitly working with Turkish aligned rebels in the North. By 2024, it had observed that Assad&rsquo;s main allies, Russia and Iran, had been occupied with other conflicts.<\/p>\n<p>This enabled HTS to prepare a full scale accosting of the Syrian government, which it did. Once HTS reached Damascus, Assad&rsquo;s birthplace, Assad fled to Moscow where the Russian government granted him asylum.<\/p>\n<p>On the same day, Damascus fell to HTS. Now as HTS controls Syria, it is looking to expand its presence, with Al-Julani speaking to the international community as Syria&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-rise-and-epic-collapse-of-whoopi-goldberg\/\" title=\"The Rise And Epic Collapse Of Whoopi Goldberg\">de-facto leader<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>From the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/moderate-rebels-destroy-desecrate-assad-family-tomb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Assad Dynasty&rsquo;s brutal rule<\/a> to HTS&rsquo; brutal takeover, it&rsquo;s shaping up to look like Syria is trapped in a ruthless cycle of switching out one dictatorship for another. This is the Shakespearean tragedy of Syria.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><i><b>The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either d or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/submitop-ed\/\">here<\/a>.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! 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His oppressive regime has been taken over by even less diplomatic figures. While Assad was known for his brutality, the current leaders of much of Syria, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and its allies, are even more extreme. HTS&#8217;s leader is Abu Mohammad Al-Julani, who is linked to the controversial Al-Qaeda organization. He began his radical journey with the Nusra Front before heading to Iraq in 2003 to fight Western forces. Upon returning to Syria in the early 2010s, he used his militant experience against Assad&#8217;s dictatorship.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, Nusra Front separated from Al-Qaeda but retained its radical ideology while rebranding itself as Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham. A year later, it merged with several other factions to form HTS, which quickly became a dominant rebel group in Northern Syria. Unlike other factions that engaged in infighting, HTS called for unity among rebels against common foes like Assad\u2019s regime and ISIS.<\/p>\n<p>As HTS expanded its influence and sought unity against Assad\u2019s rule, it adopted unconventional tactics for a terrorist organization by collaborating with local authorities to eliminate rival militants. It established a quasi-governmental structure through the Syrian Salvation Government in 2017 while attempting relations with Kurdish groups and Turkey\u2014though Turkey still labeled HTS as a terrorist entity.<\/p>\n<p>By 2020, HTS was openly cooperating with Turkish-aligned rebels and took advantage of Russia&#8217;s and Iran&#8217;s distractions from their support for Assad by launching an offensive on Damascus. Following this assault on his birthplace, Assad fled to Moscow seeking asylum as Damascus fell under HTS control.<\/p>\n<p>Now that HTS governs much of Syria under Al-Julani\u2019s leadership\u2014positioning him as a de facto leader\u2014the country appears trapped in an ongoing cycle of tyranny: replacing one dictatorship with another\u2014a tragic situation reminiscent of Shakespearean drama<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2383393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Syria-4.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[17566,7887,6039],"class_list":["post-2383392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-al-qaeda","tag-syria","tag-terrorism"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Syria-4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2383392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2383392"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2383392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2383396,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2383392\/revisions\/2383396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2383393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2383392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2383392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2383392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}