HTS And Ahrar Al-Sham: Revolutionary Flag And Future Of Syrian Opposition

Written by Hadi Gholami Nohouji exclusively for SouthFront

These past days Idlib has —yet again— seen fierce battles between the extremist group Ahrar Al-Sham and the Al-Qaeda linked Hayat Tahrir Sham (HTS), battles that are weakening to the point of collapse the, arguably, strongest of the anti-Assad forces.

HTS And Ahrar Al-Sham: Revolutionary Flag And Future Of Syrian Opposition

This new wave of conflict was predictable as since almost two weeks ago both HTS and Ahrar Al-Sham began fortifying their positions around each other and basically militarized Idlib, the main —and soon to be— last bastion of the Syrian rebels in the aforementioned Arab country.

The surprising fact has been that the increasing of the tensions that lead to this all out war is due to none other than the Syrian Revolutionary flag, a flag used by the FSA (Free Syrian Army) and its allies (including Ahrar Al-Sham) to symbolize the so called revolutionary ideas followed by these armed groups.

As noted by other observers of the now six year long conflict, the fact that two of the largest armed groups of the Syrian opposition go to war with each over the use of a flag is in itself a clear sign of the actual state of the so called Syrian revolutionary groups.

This inter-rebel fight, which has gone largely under the radar and —so far— has not been picked up by any of the major news outlets, shows the underlying reasons for the crumbling of the Syrian rebels while confronted with major challenges by the Syrian governmental forces.

The main reason, one can deduce, is the total lack of coordination and cooperation amongst the rebel groups that with their actions have clearly shown that are incapable of the most basic rational approach in cases of disagreements and crisis, which is in full display in their latest quarrel.

Also it showcases to the world the fact that the so called Syrian moderates are not even capable of negotiating with groups that sometimes ally with, a fact that raises serious doubts about the possibility of success of future Syrian peace talks.

On the other hand both HTS and Ahrar Al-Sham seem to forget that the longer their relentless battles continue, the more civilians will fall victim and as a result the civilians under rebel control in Idlib will start to lose their faith in the armed and extremist groups that govern them.

Similar episodes of rebel infighting have taken place before in the Syrian territories and the mounting civilian toll has, in most cases, decreased the support for the rebels and paved the way for agreements with the Syrian government to capture those places.

The continuity of such useless battles ensures the downfall of the Syrian rebels and also shows a clear lack of an intelligent and rational leadership that is capable of avoiding useless conflicts such as this while the threat of the Syrian government attacks on Idlib keeps growing larger by the day.

Even now the supporters of the so called Syrian revolution and the armed groups must be asking themselves the hard question and that is if they really want to be governed by bands of shortsighted warlords who do not compromise even when it is in the best interest of both sides and do not act according to their own groups’ benefits.

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Kids in Africa

Mubarak Hussein Osama new leader of Hayat Tahrir Sham.

Amon -Ra- DeArmond

My mum always told me that it’s good to have a hobby so it’s nice to see Obama follow the same logic.

Jens Holm

And Saudis made the song: Give a hand to Africa. Thats why they have so many bidets.

Turbofan

Good.Kill each other

Ronald

The Syrian opposition has no future , be they HTS , or any of Al Qaeda’s other incarnations , FSA or SDF , or the USA . “The civilians under rebel control in Idlib will start to loose their faith in the armed an extremist groups that govern them “. Those civilians never had any faith in them , this governance is buy the gun , not by the will of the people . Brute force is their “one way” , they are not democratic . Civilians south of Deir Azzor placed IED’s under fleeing ISIS jihadists and got a commander ,
the same fate awaits these Wahhabi fools .

dutchnational

It is clear that there are no real moderate FSA factions anymore in the north, not to the extent that remain relevant for the future. Their role is played out. Only as mercenaries for Turkey they can play a secondary role. AAS is also played out in Idlib, they still have a sizable presence in Azaz, but are very weakened. As ultra convervatives, their vision for a future of Syria is IS III, like HTS will become IS II.

There is no point for Assad to negotiate with rebels anymore. With whom? IS, HTS?

There is only the SDF with whom he must negotiate. Must as is forced by necessity.

Terra Cotta Woolpuller

There still is no moderates can’t rebrand terrorists no matter which group it is even the YPG/PKK are the same. YPG acts as a secret police in Syria and conduct terrorist acts in Turkey and seem to be not inclined to fight IS in Raqqa and send YPJ and conscripts in their place . There seems to be no moderation among any group especially all of them still follow their terrorist ideology no matter what, the Russians even see this as does the US, why they are trying to present with a better image .The old saying is “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.”, this is very true with all opposition groups.

Jens Holm

Its just evil talk from You and mainly unverified rubbish.

Comparing Baathistas and their corrupt mafiosa I own You leadership durig many years by jail, torture and killing is mainly like trying to learn a camel fly. It cant even if it wanted to. And it dont.

Kurds are the only in that land, which has a plan for the future making people much more responsible and work for it, because they also get more by it by well known sekularism in stead of old ineffective dicatorship from in the family and up.

Danes export for millions of sow ears each Year and buy silk purse for it in China and send it to here.

And You also can burn Your candles in both ends making more light. There is no waste, If you collect the dripping and only a little extra smoke.

Weldon Cheek

The only time there has been change is under the disguise of US led wars on terror and fake war on saddam,thats just had its swansong in syria,its old news now,things have begun to change again, the Arab people cant be ruled in a soft western “democratic” way,they are not like us,why cant people see that?and thats not racist,i admire them for their steadfastness and belief in their myriad causes,but they only thrive under a strong and,yes,ruthless leader,and to say they are being led by tyrants and dictators but to then fully accept Saudi Arabia etc into our coalition of rightiousness is about as hypocritical as it is possible to be and why our countries foreign policies for the middle east are such a sham.

Jens Holm

Marxisme isnt soft at all.

Westerns arnt soft. They include people much more. Some decissions take more time,but they are mainly better and make better progres as well in most matters.

If its about people. Yes we mainly try harder but calmer to include people. That keep the crime rates down compared to most parts with The Sharia.

So where are we soft. We do put many weapons into fx Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Israel killing many civilians as well. Thats soft.

We are our own way. But You only see the facade. Who started WW1 & 2. Throwing atomic bombs is soft.

Im not for how we are in the middle east as well as other places, but You dont learn how we are and not even copy the best parts. Its totally censured away by Your culture and religion.

You not even know Your worst enemies – so to speak. How can You defeat an enemy not knowing its strong and weak sides.

Weldon Cheek

That scenario is not on the cards yet,we dont know whats going to happen wit the pmu when they arrive into the area we cant possibly predict what Tukey is going to do about the kurdish armys (lol) setting up of a US protected supply base for pkk o
Its doorstep,also this whole thing is far from over yet and the syrians and their allies can only be more emboldened by their success so far.

gustavo

HTS And Ahrar Al-Sham. What you really means is FUTURE TERRORISTS, and actual traitor to their country to help Israel to destroy their own country.

“Future” terrorists? What do you suppose they are now?

MeThinks

I don’t know how valid the assessment nor do I care to waste any time researching the issue, but taking this article as it is, HTS has a point.
The FSA flag is a banner of geo-political shift. The green one can take to represent the Spring, in this case, Arab Spring, making the flag representative of regime change. As it is now, one cannot see the Bashar Al’ Assad government ever giving these people the power of government in any scenario. Now, let’s look at the green of this FSA banner.
One has to analyze deeper and past the BS presented by Washington and the West with regards to what they refer to as the Arab Spring. Facts on the ground, in reality show that whatever it was, it was not democratic, instead it was Islamic revolution in nature from Tunisia to Libya to Egypt, the same. Syria, however, is where that movement gets hijacked by the Americans and NATO, who were actually, since 2006, engaged in trying to remove a natural influence from state powers, specifically Lebanon at that time. One can see that in 2008, when a fuss was made over Hezzbolla’s underground communications, something or the other, done in secret, but not too secret, and how that was used as a pretext to set Islamists and the Lebanon government to fight with Hezzbolla, and how that failed and how the Howriri group along with the Saudis blamed the non-action from Isreal or seizing opportunity to invade the south and bomb Hezzbolla for it’s failure to oust the influence. Presented however, to the media at that time by the Lebanese prime minister, around May-June 2008 in a incomprehensible babble to the media that made no sense, or he could not admit what they tried to do.
Syria, in my view, is an extension of that. The FSA flag has come to mean nothing but cover from air strikes, an accommodation to Washington of sorts so they can be perceived as actually representing some kind of people, any kind of people on the ground for they represent No Syria.

MeThinks

The SDF flag is another one of those fabricated by Washington, influenced by none other than you know who. They chose not to present the obvious as they did with that new Iraqi flag they tried to impose upon the Iraqi people, along with their fake 100% Iraqi approval rate. They chose a not so obvious image representing their geopolitical leanings. They retained the blue and white leading to the river Euphrates, and let us not be naive about the myth associated with the Israeli flag, where one of the lower blue bars is supposed to represent the Euphrates river, in their lie of the mind greater Israel fabricated Kaballist bs interpretation. Green border Syria when it doesn’t represent or have anything to do with Syria and outside yellow or gold supposed to mean Kurd I guess, and to me what is a Kurd sun supposed to represent, I’m thinking Cyrus the Great

Jens Holm

News to me USA support communists.

MeThinks

fu(ck off

Jens Holm

So people can go on lying and repeat it until people believe it and dont see facts.

Westerns might send soap in stead of weapons – and toothbrushes too.

Once Aleppo soap from the desert were famous. If You go back in time in so many matters, why dont You clean the most dirty persons in the country with it ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleppo_soap

MeThinks

Actually when i look at the template of greater Israel I do not see what they see nor do I know how they could’ve concluded as they did.
I see Greater Egypt at its peak, I see Babylon through the perspect of a YaHud other side of the river.
I see a convergence of beliefs
something more testament from the past then prophesy

Rodger

This is why just making a truce with the ‘rebels’ and shipping them to Idlib is such a good strategy. These guys will fight anyone they see. And if 1 group wins they’ll just fight themselves.

RichardD

This tragedy is a microcosm of the madness of the larger war and the Jew world order’s and their collaborator’s, endless manufactured for profit and control wars that have held sway over this planet for centuries. And that need to be ended for a better future to follow. At the center of the problem is Israel with 100 UN resolutions against them, the international Jew cabal, and the Jew pedophile rape cult servants in the US government.