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Syria’s civil war had become a “forgotten” conflict. Having dragged on for more than a decade, the parties involved had seemingly reached an unhappy stalemate.
But a surprise advance by rebel forces, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, has changed that. An offensive that saw anti-government fighters retake parts of Syria’s second city, Aleppo, has reignited global interest in the conflict. But who exactly are Hayat Tahrir al-Sham? And why have they come to prominence now?
Sara Harmouch, an academic who devotes her time to researching the behaviour of Islamist militant groups in the Middle East, explains the origins of the group as an affiliate of al-Qaida and how a strategic pivot away from global jihad and toward domestic concerns transformed the group into a nationalist force in Syria.
“With growing support on the ground, a more professional military and a political wing focused on governance, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has evolved from a jihadist offshoot into a major player in Syria – a development that has huge implications for the internal dynamics of the war-torn country,” Harmouch writes.
Elsewhere, we have been taking a closer look at Vladimir Putin’s not-so-secret new missile and how music can change the way we think about the past
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