Kenya Insights

Tag: Syrian civil war

  • Syria Rebels Burn Tomb Of Bashar al-Assad’s Father

    Syria Rebels Burn Tomb Of Bashar al-Assad’s Father

    Syrian rebel fighters have destroyed the tomb of late president Hafez al-Assad, father of ousted president Bashar, in the family’s hometown.

    Videos doing rounds showed armed men chanting as they walked around the burning mausoleum in Qardaha, in the north-west of the coastal Latakia region.

    The rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept across Syria in a lightning offensive that toppled the Assad dynasty’s 54-year rule. Bashar al-Assad has fled to Russia where he and his family have been given asylum.

    Statues and posters of Hafez and his son have been pulled down across the country to cheers from Syrians celebrating the end of their rule.

    In 2011, Bashar al-Assad brutally crushed a peaceful pro-democracy uprising, sparking a devastating civil war in which more than half a million people have been killed and 12 million others forced to flee their homes.

    Hafez al-Assad ruled Syria ruthlessly from 1971 until his death in 2000, when power was handed to his son.

    He was born and raised in a family of Alawites, an offshoot of Shia Islam and a religious minority in Syria, whose main centre of population is in Latakia province near the Mediterranean coast near the border with Turkey.

    Many Alawites – who make up about 10% of the country’s population – were staunch supporters of the Assads during their long stay in power.

    Some of them now fear that they may be targeted by the victorious rebels.

    On Monday, a rebel delegation with members of HTS and another Sunni Muslim group, the Free Syrian Army, met Qardaha elders and received their support, according to Reuters news agency.

    The rebel delegation signed a document, which Reuters reported emphasised Syria’s religious and cultural diversity.

    HTS and allied rebel factions seized control of the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday after years of civil war.

    HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, who has now started using his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is a former jihadist who cut ties with al-Qaeda in 2016. He has recently pledged tolerance for different religious groups and communities.

    The UN envoy for Syria has said the rebels must transform their “good messages” into practice on the ground.

    The US secretary of state meanwhile said Washington would recognise and fully support a future Syrian government so long as it emerged from a credible, inclusive process that respected minorities.

    HTS has appointed a transitional government led by Mohammed al-Bashir, the former head of the rebel administration in the north-west, until March 2025.

    Bashir chaired a meeting in Damascus on Tuesday attended by members of his new government and those of Assad’s former cabinet to discuss the transfer of portfolios and institutions.

  • Here’s The Latest News On The Situation In Syria

    Here’s The Latest News On The Situation In Syria

    AFP—Syria’s new transitional prime minister on Tuesday said it was time for “stability and calm” in the country, two days after longtime president Bashar al-Assad was toppled by rebels in a lightning offensive.

    The rebels appointed Mohammad al-Bashir as the transitional head of government to run the country until March 1, a statement said.

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged all nations to support an “inclusive” political process in Syria, saying the United States would eventually recognise a government if it meets such standards.

    “Now it is time for this people to enjoy stability and calm,” Bashir told Qatar’s Al Jazeera television in his first interview since being appointed.

    A senior official told US broadcaster NBC that Assad was in Moscow, after he fled Syria as an Islamist-led rebel alliance swept into Damascus on Sunday, ending five decades of brutal rule by his clan.

    Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the Islamist leader who headed the rebel offensive, had announced talks on a transfer of power and vowed to pursue former senior officials responsible for torture and war crimes.

    His group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is rooted in Syria’s Al-Qaeda branch and is proscribed by many Western governments as a terrorist organisation, though it has sought to moderate its image.

    – ‘Unity, inclusiveness’ –

    Blinken said the future government of Syria should be “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian”.

    Laying out US priorities, Blinken said the new government must “uphold clear commitments to fully respect the rights of minorities” and allow the flow of humanitarian assistance.

    The United States wanted the next government to “prevent Syria from being used as a base for terrorism”, he added.

    Although they no longer hold any territory in Syria, the jihadists of the Islamic State group remain active.

    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said IS fighters killed 54 government troops after capturing them as they fled across the vast Syrian desert.

    The UN envoy for Syria said the groups that forced Assad to flee must transform their “good messages” into actions on the ground.

    “They have been sending messages of unity, of inclusiveness,” Geir Pedersen said.

    “What we need not to see is… that this is not followed up in practice in the days and the weeks ahead of us,” he added.

    EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned of the risks of sectarian violence and a resurgence of extremism. “We must avoid a repeat of the horrific scenarios in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan.”

    Syria’s nearly 14-year civil war killed 500,000 people and forced half the country to flee their homes, millions of them finding refuge abroad.

    Jolani, who now uses his real name Ahmed al-Sharaa, vowed: “We will not hesitate to hold accountable the criminals, murderers, security and army officers involved in torturing the Syrian people.”

    – Thousands missing –

    The fall of Assad has sparked a frantic search by families of the tens of thousands of people held in his security services’ jails and detention centres.

    As they advanced towards Damascus, the rebels released thousands of detainees, but many more remain missing.

    Syria’s White Helmet rescuers on Tuesday called on Russia to pressure Assad into providing maps of secret jails and lists of detainees as they race against time to release prisoners.

    A large crowd gathered Monday outside Saydnaya jail, synonymous with the worst atrocities of Assad’s rule, to search for relatives, many of whom had spent years in captivity, AFP correspondents reported.

    “I’m looking for my brother, who has been missing since 2013. We’ve looked everywhere for him, we think he’s here, in Saydnaya,” said 52-year-old Umm Walid.

    Crowds of freed prisoners wandered the streets of Damascus, many maimed by torture, weakened by illness and emaciated by hunger.

    The United Nations said whoever ended up in power in Syria must hold Assad and his lieutenants to account.

    UN investigators who for years have been gathering evidence of horrific crimes called Assad’s ouster a “game-changer” because they will now be able to access “the crime scene”.

    While Syrians were celebrating Assad’s ouster, the country now faces enormous uncertainty, and it is unclear whether the dreams of democracy so many sacrificed their lives for will be realised.

    – Strikes –

    Further complicating prospects, the Israeli military said it had conducted hundreds of strikes on Syria over the past two days.

    Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, called on Israel to stop.

    “We are continuing to see Israeli movements and bombardments into Syrian territory. This needs to stop,” he said.

    But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Syria’s new rulers that he would respond “forcefully” if they allow “Iran to re-establish itself in Syria, or permits the transfer of Iranian weapons or any other weapons to Hezbollah”.

    The Britain-based Observatory said Israeli strikes had “destroyed the most important military sites in Syria”.

    The monitor said the strikes targeted weapons depots, naval vessels and a research centre that Western governments suspected of having links to chemical weapons production.

    Israel, which borders Syria, also sent troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone east of the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

    Israel backer the United States said the incursion must be “temporary”, after the United Nations said Israel was violating the 1974 armistice.

    The Israeli defence minister said the military had orders to “establish a sterile defence zone free of weapons and terrorist threats in southern Syria, without a permanent Israeli presence.”

  • Saydnaya Prison: Mapping The Assads’ ‘Human Slaughterhouse’

    Saydnaya Prison: Mapping The Assads’ ‘Human Slaughterhouse’

    BBC—Since the collapse of the Assad regime on Sunday, Syrian civilians hoping for news of their relatives have been flocking towards the country’s most secretive and notorious prison, Saydnaya.

    Established in the early 1980s in a small town about 30km north of the capital Damascus, Saydnaya is where the Assad family has held opponents of their regime for decades.

    Referred to as a “human slaughterhouse” by rights groups, thousands of people are said to have been detained, tortured and executed at the prison since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

    The layout of Saydnaya has been a closely guarded secret and images from inside the prison have never been seen before.

    Details of the prison’s layout can only be established based on interviews with former guards and detainees.

    But information from rights groups and the US State Department have offered an insight into the building which became a powerful symbol of the Assads’ brutal and repressive rule.

    A sprawling ‘slaughterhouse’

    Saydnaya was for decades administered by the Syrian military police and military intelligence, with construction beginning in the early 1980s. The first detainees arrived at the 1.4 sq km facility in 1987 – 16 years into the rule of President Hafeez al-Assad, Bashar’s father.

    Once fully operational the prison contained two main detention facilities. The White Building was, according to rights groups, mainly built to hold military officers and troops suspected of being disloyal to the regime. It was an L-shaped complex in the south-east of the sprawling complex.

    The Red Building – the main prison – was for opponents of the regime, initially comprising those suspected of membership of Islamist groups. This wing was noted for its distinctive Y-shape, with three straight corridors spreading out from a central hub.

    Around 10,000-20,000 people could be housed between the two buildings, according to rights groups that have spoken to released prisoners. Videos circulating online since Sunday – which have been authenticated by BBC Verify – showed a large surveillance room in the prison filled with CCTV screens showing what appeared to be dozens of prison cells.

    A 2017 report by Amnesty International citing ex-guards at the prison found that after the Syrian civil war began in 2011 the White Building was emptied of existing prisoners, and prepared instead to house those detained for taking part in protests opposing President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

    One former officer told Amnesty that “after 2011, [Saydnaya] became the main political prison in Syria”.

    The organisation also quoted testimony from former prisoners claiming that those held in the Red Building were frequently exposed to various methods of torture, including severe beatings, rape and denial of access to food and medicine.

    Housed beneath the White Building is what those speaking to Amnesty called an “execution room”, where detainees in the Red Building would be transported to be hanged.

    A former guard said that a list of those to be executed from the Red Building would arrive at lunchtime. Troops would then take those marked for death to a basement holding cell – which could sometimes contain up to 100 people – where they were subjected to beatings.

    Prisoners who spoke to Amnesty said detainees in the Red Building were typically “transferred” from the building in the dead of night – usually between midnight and 03:00.

    Blindfolded detainees were then led down a flight of stairs into the “execution room” in the south-east section of the White Building, before being led up onto a one metre-high platform with 10 nooses from which they were hanged.

    According to Amnesty, in 2012 the room was expanded, with a second platform with 20 more nooses. In footage shared by rebel-affiliated media after the fall of the regime, fighters displayed dozens of nooses they found in rooms around Saydnaya.

    It is estimated by rights groups that more than 30,000 detainees had either been executed or died as a result of torture, lack of medical care or starvation between 2011 and 2018. Citing accounts from the few released inmates, at least another 500 detainees had been executed between 2018 and 2021, the Association of the Missing and Detainees in Saydnaya Prison (AMDSP) said in 2022.

    In 2017, the US State Department claimed that authorities had constructed a possible crematoriumon the site to dispose of the remains of murdered prisoners. In the images below, a small wing can be seen adjoining the White Building.

    A State Department spokesperson said officials had built the facility as part of “an effort to cover up the extent of mass murders taking place in Saydnaya prison”.

    Satellite images released by US investigators showed a structure which they said was a small building converted into a crematorium. Officials said snow melt on the roof of the building helped to back up their claims – adding that at least 50 prisoners a day were being hanged at the facility at the time.

    Intense security surrounded the complex

    Throughout its history, the facility was heavily guarded, with fortifications surrounding the grounds.

    The exterior of the prison was patrolled by a detachment of 200 troops from the military, with an additional 250 soldiers from military intelligence and the military police responsible for interior security, according to the 2022 report from AMDSP.

    Troops from the 21st Brigade of the army’s Third Division were chosen to defend the prison because of their strong loyalty to the regime. Soldiers were commanded by officers from President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority.

    Since the downfall of the Assad regime, civilians have been urged to avoid rushing through the perimeter of the prison. Rights groups say the exterior of the complex is known to be heavily mined. A ring of anti-tank munitions runs around the exterior of the prison, with a secondary ring of anti-personnel mines running through the centre of the facility.

    Images released by the White Helmets – a Syrian civil defence group – showed high walls topped with barbed wire also surrounding the complex. Guard towers can also be seen dotted around the facility.

    The Assad regime always denied the accusations levelled against it by international organisation, calling them “baseless” and “devoid of truth”.

    Amnesty says for families who suspect their relatives have been held in Saydnaya the fall of the regime “raises the prospect that they could finally discover the fate of their missing loved ones, in some cases decades later”.

  • With Assad Gone, Israel Captures Syria Buffer Zone, Ends Border Agreement

    With Assad Gone, Israel Captures Syria Buffer Zone, Ends Border Agreement

    With Syrian President Bashar al-Assad toppled, Israel sent its ground forces beyond the demilitarized zone on the Syria-Israel border, marking the first Israeli entry into Syrian territory since the 1973 Middle East War.

    Assad fled Syria to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of the capital Damascus early Sunday, marking the collapse of the Baath Party regime, which had been in power in Syria since 1963.

    It came over a week after anti-regime groups seized control of Aleppo, a major city in northern Syria.

    Following Assad’s ouster, the Israeli army conducted dozens of airstrikes against what it called weapons depots in Syria to prevent armed groups from seizing them.

    It also sent troops beyond a demilitarized zone in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and announced the collapse of the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria.

    Buffer zone

    On Sunday, the Israeli army said it seized control of a demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights after anti-regime groups took over Syria.

    Israeli forces took control of the mountain summit of Mount Hermon on the Syrian side of the border, and several other locations.

    The army argued that the move aimed to establish what it called defensive positions in the area to prevent infiltration of armed groups.

    The troop deployment marks a significant shift in policy as the first overt entry of Israeli army forces into Syrian territory since the 1974 disengagement agreement that officially ended the last war between Israel and Syria in 1973.

    Disengagement agreement

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also announced the collapse of a UN-monitored disengagement agreement, which established a buffer zone between Israel and Syria after Syrian troops withdrew from the area following Assad’s ouster.

    Signed on May 31, 1974, the agreement stipulates Israel’s withdrawal from all of the areas of Mount Hermon it had occupied during the 1973 War as well as an area of about 25 square kilometers (9.6 square miles) that included Quneitra and other locations.

    The agreement defines the current border between Israel and Syria along with the accompanying military arrangements, creating two separation lines — Israeli (blue) and Syrian (red) — with a buffer zone between them.

    The agreement is monitored by the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), as it is tasked with maintaining the cease-fire between Israel and Syria following the October 1973 war.

    Since 1974, UNDOF has patrolled the buffer zone between the Israeli- and Syrian-controlled zones.

    Israel occupied most of the Golan Heights during the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed the territory in a move never recognized by the international community.

    Closed military zones

    The Israeli army also imposed closed military zones in the occupied Golan Heights.

    Military spokesman Avichay Adraee said the decision was taken based on a security assessment conducted by the army’s Northern Command.

    The army also warned residents of five villages in southern Syria close to Israel’s border to remain in their homes amid its military actions in the area.

    The targeted villages include Ofaniya, Quneitra, al-Hamidiyah, Samdaniya al-Gharbiyya and al-Qahtaniyah.

    Airstrikes inside Syria

    The Israeli army carried out dozens of airstrikes across Syria targeting around 100 sites following the fall of the Assad regime.

    Israeli media said that the airstrikes targeted military bases, air defense stations and intelligence headquarters as well as long- and short-range missile depots, weapons production centers and unconventional weapon stockpiles.

    According to information obtained by Anadolu from opposition-affiliated air monitoring officials, Israeli warplanes hit Damascus’ Mezzeh Military Airport, Quneitra Gara, Minket al-Hadab, Damascus Security Zone, Quneitra Tel al-Sham, Damascus Military Science Center, Tel Aqrabeh in the countryside of Daraa, Kalkaleh Military Base, Tel al-Talib in Daraa, and various sites in the town of Ghita.

    Over the past few days, the Israeli military also targeted locations in southern Syria, from Daraa to the capital Damascus and Masyaf in the north.

    The airstrikes were meant to reduce the Syrian army’s military capacity, Israeli Channel 12 said.

  • From Syrian Jihadist Leader To Rebel Politician: How Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani Reinvented Himself

    From Syrian Jihadist Leader To Rebel Politician: How Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani Reinvented Himself

    BBC—Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani has dropped that nom de guerre associated with his jihadist past, and been using his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in official communiques issued since Thursday, ahead of the fall of President Bashar al-Assad.

    This move is part of Jawlani’s effort to bolster his legitimacy in a new context, as his Islamist militant group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), leading other rebel factions, announces the capture of the Syrian capital, Damascus, solidifying its control over much of the country.

    Jawlani’s transformation is not recent, but has been carefully cultivated over the years, evident not only in his public statements and interviews with international outlets but also in his evolving appearance.

    Once clad in traditional jihadist militant attire, he has adopted a more Western-style wardrobe in the past years. Now, as he leads the offensive, he has donned military fatigues, symbolising his role as the commander of the operations room.

    But who is Jawlani – or Ahmed al-Sharaa – and why and how has he changed?

    The IS-Iraq link

    A 2021 PBS interview with Jawlani revealed that he was born in 1982 in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked as an oil engineer until 1989.

    In that year, the Jawlani family returned to Syria, where he grew up and lived in the Mezzeh neighbourhood of Damascus.

    Jawlani’s journey as a jihadist began in Iraq, linked to al-Qaeda through the Islamic State (IS) group’s precursor – al-Qaeda in Iraq and, later, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI).

    After the 2003 US-led invasion, he joined other foreign fighters in Iraq and, in 2005, was imprisoned at Camp Bucca, where he enhanced his jihadist affiliations and later on was introduced to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the quiet scholar who would later go on to lead IS.

    In 2011, Baghdadi sent Jawlani to Syria with funding to establish al-Nusra Front, a covert faction tied to ISI. By 2012, Nusra had become a prominent Syrian fighting force, hiding its IS and al-Qaeda ties.

    Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi sent Jawlani to Syria to establish Al-Nusra Front.

    Tensions arose in 2013 when Baghdadi’s group in Iraq unilaterally declared the merger of the two groups (ISI and Nusra), declaring the creation of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), and publicly revealing for the first time the links between them.

    Jawlani resisted, as he wanted to distance his group from ISI’s violent tactics, leading to a split.

    To get out of that sticky situation, Jawlani pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda, making Nusra Front its Syrian branch.

    From the start, he prioritised winning Syrian support, distancing himself from IS’s brutality and emphasising a more pragmatic approach to jihad.

    Joining al-Qaeda

    In April 2013, al-Nusra Front became al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, putting it at odds with IS.

    While Jawlani’s move was partly an attempt to maintain local support and avoid alienating Syrians and rebel factions, the al-Qaeda affiliation ultimately did little to benefit this effort.

    It became a pressing challenge in 2015 when Nusra and other factions captured Idlib province, forcing them to co-operate in its administration.

    Jawlani rebranded al-Nusra Front as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham in 2016. The following year it became Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

    In 2016, Jawlani severed ties with al-Qaeda, rebranding the group as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and later as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in 2017.

    While initially appearing superficial, the split revealed deeper divisions. Al-Qaeda accused Jawlani of betrayal, leading to defections and the formation of Hurras al-Din, a new al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, which HTS later crushed in 2020. Members of Hurras al-Din, however, have remained cautiously present in the region.

    HTS also targeted IS operatives and foreign fighters in Idlib, dismantling their networks and forcing some to undergo “deradicalisation” programmes.

    These moves, justified as efforts to unify militant forces and reduce infighting, signalled Jawlani’s strategy to position HTS as a dominant and politically viable force in Syria.

    Despite the public split from al-Qaeda and name changes, HTS continued to be designated by the UN, US, UK and other countries as a terrorist organisation, and the US maintained a $10m reward for information about Jawlani’s whereabouts. Western powers considered the break-up to be a façade.

    Forming a ‘government’ in Idlib

    Jawlani gave a press conference following the devastating 2023 earthquakes in Syria

    Under Jawlani, HTS became the dominant force in Idlib, north-west Syria’s largest rebel stronghold and home to about four million people, many of whom were displaced from other Syrian provinces.

    To address concerns about a militant group governing the area, HTS established a civilian front, the so-called “Syrian Salvation Government” (SG) in 2017 as its political and administrative arm.

    The SG functioned like a state, with a prime minister, ministries and local departments overseeing sectors such as education, health and reconstruction, while maintaining a religious council guided by Sharia, or Islamic law.

    Jawlani was pictured looking at a painting of the Umayyad Mosque during a visit to a book, arts and culture fair in Idlib in 2022

    To reshape his image, Jawlani actively engaged with the public, visiting displacement camps, attending events, and overseeing aid efforts, particularly during crises like the 2023 earthquakes.

    HTS highlighted achievements in governance and infrastructure to legitimise its rule and demonstrate its ability to provide stability and services.

    It has previously praised the Taliban, upon their return to power in 2021, lauding them as an inspiration and a model for effectively balancing jihadist efforts with political aspirations, including making tactical compromises to achieve their goals.

    Jawlani’s efforts in Idlib reflected his broader strategy to demonstrate HTS’s ability not only to wage jihad but also to govern effectively.

    By prioritising stability, public services and reconstruction, he aimed to showcase Idlib as a model of success under HTS rule, enhancing both his group’s legitimacy and his own political aspirations.

    But under his leadership, HTS has crushed and marginalised other militant factions, both jihadists and rebel ones, in its effort to consolidate its power and dominate the scene.

    Anti-HTS protests

    For over a year leading up to the HTS-led rebel offensive on 27 November, Jawlani faced protests in Idlib from hardline Islamists as well as Syrian activists.

    Critics compared his rule to Assad’s, accusing HTS of authoritarianism, suppressing dissent and silencing critics. Protesters labelled HTS’s security forces as “Shabbiha”, a term used to describe Assad’s loyalist henchmen.

    They further alleged that HTS deliberately avoided meaningful combat against government forces and marginalised jihadists and foreign fighters in Idlib to prevent them from engaging in such actions, all to appease international actors.

    Even during the latest offensive, activists have persistently urged HTS to release individuals imprisoned in Idlib allegedly for expressing dissent.

    In response to these criticisms, HTS initiated several reforms over the past year. It disbanded or rebranded a controversial security force accused of human rights violations and established a “Department of Grievances” to allow citizens to lodge complaints against the group. Its critics said these measures were just a show to contain dissent.

    Earlier this year, protesters in Idlib demanded the release of detainees and an end to HTS’s rule.

    To justify its consolidation of power in Idlib and the suppression of plurality among militant groups, HTS argued that unifying under a single leadership was crucial for making progress and ultimately overthrowing the Syrian government.

    HTS and its civilian arm, the SG, walked a tightrope, striving to project a modern, moderate image to win over both the local population and the international community, while simultaneously maintaining their Islamist identity to satisfy hardliners within rebel-held areas and HTS’s own ranks.

    For instance, in December 2023, HTS and the SG faced a backlash after a “festival” held at a glossy new shopping mall was criticised by hardliners as “immoral”.

    And this August, a Paralympic Games-inspired ceremony drew sharp criticism from hardliners, prompting the SG to review the organisation of such events.

    These incidents illustrate the challenges HTS faces in reconciling the expectations of its Islamist base with the broader demands of the Syrian population, who are seeking freedom and coexistence after years of authoritarian rule under Assad.

    Leading a new path?

    As the latest offensive unfolded, global media focused on Jawlani’s jihadist past, prompting some rebel supporters to call for him to step back, viewing him as a liability.

    Although he previously expressed willingness to dissolve his group and step aside, his recent actions and public appearances tell a different story.

    HTS’s success in uniting rebels and nearly capturing the whole country in under two weeks has strengthened Jawlani’s position, quieting hardline critics and accusations of opportunism.

    HTS and its allies launched the offensive that overthrew Assad at the end of November

    Jawlani and the SG have since reassured domestic and international audiences.

    To Syrians, including minorities, they promised safety; to neighbours and powers like Russia, they pledged peaceful relations. Jawlani even assured Russia its Syrian bases would remain unharmed if attacks ceased.

    This shift reflects HTS’s “moderate jihad” strategy since 2017, emphasising pragmatism over rigid ideology.

    Jawlani’s approach could signal the decline of global jihad movements like IS and al-Qaeda, whose inflexibility is increasingly seen as ineffective and unsustainable.

    His trajectory might inspire other groups to adapt, marking either a new era of localised, politically flexible “jihadism” or just a temporary divergence from the traditional path in order to make political and territorial gains.