When the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized power in Syria in December, it was seen as the presumptive end of the protracted civil war in that country, since it removed President Assad from power. Since then, there seems to be quite a bit of internal conflict though, and it only seems to be growing.
Over the weekend, the HTS government carried out a raid in the city of Aleppo against a “jihadist hideout.” They reported that three ISIS member were killed in the raid, and four others were captured.
Syria’s Interior Ministry reported the raid was carried out by the General Intelligence Service. The service is run by Interior Minister Anas Khattab, a long-time HTS member and the deputy leader under President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Khattab has been designated a terrorist by the United Nations since 2014.
Notably, while Khattab is a high profile member of the HTS-dominated government, there have never been any publicly available images of him released. He was repeatedly accused by rival Islamist faction Hurras al-Din of helping orchestrate US drone strikes against them. That had never been confirmed, but Khattab is known to have worked with the Turkish government for over a decade.
Khattab’s history with inter-jihad rivalries puts him in a prime position for an HTS against ISIS showdown, and it is being suggested that these raids against ISIS are part of an effort to boost HTS ties with the United States.
President Sharaa met with US President Trump on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, and Trump announced the lifting of sanctions against Syria, even though many of their top government officials, including Sharaa and Khattab, remain considered terrorists by the US State Department.
In their weekly newspaper, ISIS notably condemned Sharaa for meeting with Trump, accusing him of favoring “those whose master is Trump over those whose whose master is Muhammad.” The paper included a warning for those jihadists backing the new HTS-dominated government that they could become a card Sharaa burns for international acceptance.
In the context of the weekend raid, it’s not sure whether this is an attempt to curry favor with Trump or just an attempt to chase a rival Islamist faction out of the major city of Aleppo. Either way, it could be the prelude or another big conflict involving ISIS, leaving open the question of whether the civil war ever really ended, or if the participants simply changed.
This is where Assad is missed…!
There is no ISIS there is no Alqaeda. There are subversion snd terrorist groups paid by a stare actor — aalways hidden behind a prlivate initiative, a cryptic institution etc. Isis was created back in 2013-2014 through initiative called Syrian Commitee set up by our great partner in then the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia. Once key funding is gone, as in SaudibArabis in 2017, Then other interested parties recruit such leftover units. Always useful, Just follow the money.
And then everybody uses these labels to target those they want to target. Just convenience. And the new rulers of Damascud are doing the same.
ISIL (also known as ISIS) is a direct outgrowth of the insurgency that emerged in Iraq in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion. Specifically, ISIL originated from Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), which was formed in response to the invasion and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
When Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi rejected Al Qaeda's authority and later declared a caliphate, he split the always-fractious jihadist movement.
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