Rebels Make Surprise Advances in Syria. Who are They and What Does it Mean?
08:03 Share

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Energia, where everyone can invest in the world's top renewable energy markets. Explore renewable energy projects, shop investments, and get started with as little as $100. Make your money do more at Energia.com slash NPR. Today on State of the World, rebels make surprise advances in Syria. Who are they and what does it mean?

You're listening to State of the World from NPR, the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Monday, December 2nd. I'm Greg Dixon. Syria has been embroiled in a bloody civil war with various groups fighting the government of President Bashar al-Assad since 2011. Hundreds of thousands have died and millions have been displaced. But the conflict had been stuck in a stalemate for years.

That all changed a few days ago when opposition militias routed government forces seizing control of a major city, Aleppo. We'll hear about the main group behind this revival of the conflict in a few minutes. First, NPR's Ruth Sherlock tells us how Syrians are reacting to these events.

Armed rebels in bulletproof jackets cheer and sing outside of the ancient citadel of Aleppo. With huge grins on their faces, they film themselves to capture the moment as if they themselves can hardly believe where they are. The rebels are an umbrella of mostly Sunni Muslim fighters led by an Islamist group with a hard line past. Abdelkader,

Abdullah Mohamed, a media coordinator for one of the Syrian opposition factions, says the rapid collapse of the Syrian regime lines even surprised them when they launched this offensive. It's an indescribable feeling, he says, to be in Aleppo.

And then he rings off to head back to his hometown. It's been recaptured, and he's going there for the first time in 11 years. A video widely posted online in the hours after the rebel offensive apparently shows men and women being freed from regime prisons.

Women dressed in black, all covering abayas, run outside at top speed. It's truly historic. Muaz Mustafa is the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, an American organisation pushing for democracy in Syria. These are dungeons where people have...

been tortured and not even seen in the light of day for years. Mustafa helped publish the Caesar files, which showed photos of the torture of tens of thousands of prisoners detained by the regime. Syria should be free of the tyranny of the Assad regime, of the Iranian and Russian occupation.

The 13-year civil war has devastated Syria. But in recent years, the conflict had reached a stalemate, with President Assad in control of most of the country and rebels that oppose him controlling parts of Syria's northwestern Idlib province and other border areas.

This renewed assault means more war and more suffering for civilians caught in the middle. In Idlib, a civil defence rescuer runs to an ambulance with a bloodied child in his arms as another tries to help another young boy from the debris of a building hit by an airstrike in the Syrian government's counter-offensive. In some government-held parts of the country, there is fear over what may come. Oh.

This woman is in Hama, in central Syria. She's too afraid to give her name.

She's from the Alawite minority sect in Syria, the same sect as the Assad family. She says she's terrified of the rebels that are mostly Sunni Muslims and include hardline Islamists. As the news of the rebel advance reached them, she says, people in her street packed their possessions into cars and began leaving. But there are just as many terrified of government forces.

There have been numerous accounts of sectarian killings by both opposition militias and regime factions, with civilians gunned down or slaughtered with knives in both Sunni and Alawite villages.

The rebel groups that have launched this offensive are sending messages that they won't harm civilians. But with so much dark history in this bloodied civil war, the renewed terror for people across Syria is real. That's NPR's Ruth Sherlock. As she said, the rebels who made these surprising gains are led by an Islamist group with a hardline past. They're called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Organization for the Liberation of Greater Syria.

Willem Marx tells us more about them. Known by several different names over the years since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, HTS, as it's commonly known in English, is an Islamist group. The US has designated a terrorist organization. As Jabhat al-Nusra, it formed an alliance with Al-Qaeda more than a decade ago. But in recent years, HTS has publicly disavowed international terrorism and tries to present a more moderate face. The group has completely turned away from having any kind of global agenda

Charles Lister is the director of the Syria programme at the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington, D.C. It has turned national, so to speak. It has embraced nationally oriented language. But unquestionably, the group retains very conservative religious foundations. At the moment, HTS's leaders say they've no plan to apply Sharia law in areas they control and have even started working with Syria's minority Christian communities.

In Idlib province, that they govern near the border with Turkey, a largely technocratic government cooperates with UN aid agencies. Turkey's support for the group has also been crucial, says Alex McKeever, a researcher with the organisation Syrians for Truth and Justice, even though that support was originally intended simply to fend off government forces.

One of Turkey's main policy goals in Syria since 2016, to prevent a further influx of refugees across the border into Turkey, which would most likely be caused by a regime offensive that manages to take the entire Idlib pocket. That assistance has allowed HTS to develop a diversified economy, says Caroline Rose, a senior fellow at the New Lions Institute think tank.

And HDS could replicate that elsewhere. It strives not only to retain but also set up proto-governance in Aleppo city and the areas around it, eventually establishing a monopoly over not only local territory but also goods and services for taxation, much like what we've seen in Idlib in the northwest.

And that need to govern millions of people has really changed the group, according to former U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford. It's not what it was. It's not what I had imagined when we pushed to get them on the terrorism list in 2012. Back then, they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, Syria in Iran. Al-Qaeda in Syria!

But as HTS celebrates its relatively easy advance, the Syrian army and its Russian allies are preparing to fight back. And so holding even more new territory, let alone one day governing it, may prove much harder. For NPR News, I'm Willem Marks.

That's the state of the world from NPR. Over the course of just a few minutes, you're now up to speed on a consequential conflict that had been dormant for years. You just heard voices on the ground and experts explaining what this means. You get reporting like this right here every weekday, but we can't do it without support from listeners like you.

We're free to everyone, and we rely on your support to keep it that way. If you already give to NPR or your local station, thank you. If you haven't supported NPR before or not in a while, show how much you value what you get from us by joining NPR+. You'll get perks across more than 25 NPR podcasts, including this one, where you'll hear every episode without sponsor messages. Join at plus.npr.org.

Or if you don't want the perks, you can just make a gift at donate.npr.org. We'll give you those links in our episode notes. Thank you for your support, and thanks for listening.

This message comes from Schwab. At Schwab, how you invest is your choice, not theirs. That's why when it comes to managing your wealth, Schwab gives you more choices. You can invest and trade on your own. Plus, get advice and more comprehensive wealth solutions to help meet your unique needs. With award-winning service, low costs, and transparent advice, you can manage your wealth your way at Schwab. Visit schwab.com to learn more.

This message comes from NPR sponsor Shopify, the global commerce platform that helps you sell and show up exactly the way you want to. Customize your online store to your style. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash NPR.

This message comes from Warby Parker. What makes a great pair of glasses? At Warby Parker, it's all the invisible extras without the extra cost, like free adjustments for life. Find your pair at warbyparker.com or visit one of their hundreds of stores around the country.