The Patient Efforts Behind Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s Success in Aleppo

Dec 3, 2024

Also published in War on the Rocks
A rebel fighter belonging to the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham gestures while riding a vehicle near Aleppo in November 2024 - source: Reuters
About the Authors
Aaron Zelin
Aaron Y. Zelin

Aaron Y. Zelin is the Gloria and Ken Levy Senior Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy where his research focuses on Sunni Arab jihadi groups in North Africa and Syria as well as the trend of foreign fighting and online jihadism.

Articles & Testimony

The former jihadist affiliate has changed tremendously in the past few years, and understanding this new reality is crucial to identifying how its current offensive might unfold.

“God willing,” the militant told his lieutenants, they would “be able to celebrate Eid al-Fitr in Aleppo and Damascus soon.” That militant was Abu Muhammad al-Jawlani, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham—the Islamist coalition that took Aleppo by storm last week. As it turns out, his remarks—delivered in April to the leaders of his group’s militant wing—were not mere whimsy. He had a plan. And Eid al-Fitr is still four months away...

Read the full article at the War on the Rocks website.

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Syria