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Led by Abu Mohammed al-Joulani, formerly of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, his fighters were on their way to Hama on Saturday evening. The entity, which governs Idlib, has shown signs of openness in recent years, particularly towards minorities and women. To what extent?
With his finger pointing towards the sky, he smiles at the camera, leaving a house housing a group of fighters: “We take revenge on Bashar, Allah Akbar, God is great!” Like the other Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebels around him, the man appears to be between 20 and 30 years old, wears khaki military fatigues, a rifle on his shoulder and a short black beard. The video in which he speaks was posted on a Telegram channel designated by the name of the dazzling military operation which made it possible in three days to retake Aleppo from the regime of Bashar al-Assad, “deterrence of aggression”. A video posted on Saturday, November 30 in the morning among many others, showing a statue of Bassel al-Assad, the President's late brother, unbolted at a roundabout in the second Syrian city, or prisoners released.
In the evening, these same jihadists were not far from the town of Hama, 140 km south of Aleppo, according to several sources, while the regime forces fled the city of Homs, located 50 km south of Hama. , on the road to Damascus. For Charles Lister, expert at the Middle East Institute (MEI), it now seems possible that “Syrian opposition controls all or most of Aleppo provinces
