The Salafi jihadist group Hurras al-Din, Syria’s official al-Qaeda affiliate, announced on Tuesday that it was dissolving, saying its goals were complete following the regime change that ousted former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“[T]he sons of the Al-Qaeda Jihad organization rushed to support the people of the Levant and assist them in removing injustice from them until God permitted this Sunni Muslim people to triumph over one of the most unjust tyrants of the modern era,” Hurras al-Din said in a statement.
The group said al-Qaeda had ordered it to dissolve. “In light of these developments on the Levantine scene, and by an emir’s decision from the general command of al-Qaeda in the Levant organization, we announce to our Muslim nation and to the Sunnis in the Levant the dissolution of the Guardians of Religion Organization (Hurras al-Din),” the group said.
Hurras al-Din formed in 2018 as an offshoot of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the militant group that led the offensive against Assad and now rules Syria. HTS was previously the official al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria when it was known as the al-Nusra Front, but it rebranded in 2016 to gain international support.
Over the years, there have been tensions between HTS and Hurras al-Din, which were both based in Syria’s northwest Idlib before HTS took Damascus. In 2020, HTS began arresting some senior members of Hurras al-Din. The US had also waged a drone war against Hurras al-Din and bombed them in Idlib as recently as August 2024.
Hurras al-Din told its members to keep their weapons and urged Syria’s new leaders to keep Sunni Muslims armed. “We advise them to keep the weapon in the hands of the Sunnis in the Levant in order for a nation to remain carrying weapons so that no tyrant will enslave it, and no occupier will covet it,” the group said.
Hurras al-Din’s fighters may merge with Syria’s new HTS-led military, which has appointed foreign jihadists to senior positions. The dissolution announcement came after HTS’s leader, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, now known by his real name Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, said there would be no armed groups outside of the new HTS-led government’s control.
Sharaa, the founder of al-Qaeda in Syria, was declared the president of Syria on Wednesday. The US, under President Biden, helped Sharaa and HTS take over Syria despite their al-Qaeda history and the fact that HTS is listed by the US as a terrorist organization.
