Syrian Islamist rebels, who overthrew Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive, planned the operation a year ago, one of their military commanders told the Guardian. It was called “repelling aggression”.
The Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had been preparing for years, but the operation began a year ago, explains in an interview published Friday by the British newspaper, Abou Hassan al-Hamwi, military commander of HTS and former head of the Islamist group’s military wing.
It wasn’t until late November that HTS felt the time was right. To do this, it was first necessary to unite the different rebel groups operating in the country. “The fundamental problem was the absence of a unified command,” added Abu Hassan Al-Hamwi, 40.
An operations room was created, bringing together commanders from around 25 rebel groups in the south, who would coordinate the movements of their fighters among themselves and with HTS in the north. Once the coalition was put together, with the HTS group as its spearhead, it set about training combatants and developing a military doctrine, explains the commander.
Disciplined fighting force
“We studied the enemy in depth, analyzed their tactics, day and night, and we used this knowledge to develop our own forces,” he added. The group, which was made up of insurgents, slowly transformed into a disciplined fighting force, the newspaper describes.
HTS also began producing its own weapons, vehicles and ammunition. Resources remained limited, he continued, unlike those of President Assad, who had the support of Russia and Iran. In this context, a military unit dedicated to drones was created, bringing together engineers, mechanics and scientists.
“We unified their knowledge and set clear objectives: we needed reconnaissance drones, attack drones and explosive drones, with emphasis on range and endurance,” Al-Hamwi stressed adding that their production had started in 2019.
These “explosive drones” were deployed during the attack against the forces of the former Syrian president. At the end of an 11-day offensive, the rebel coalition dominated by HTS on Sunday overthrew the power of Bashar al-Assad, who fled to Russia with his family, according to Russian agencies.
A prime minister, Mohammad al-Bashir, was named Tuesday to lead a transitional government until March 1.
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats / afp
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