{"id":6785,"date":"2024-12-09T23:15:11","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T23:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2024\/12\/09\/who-are-the-rebels-that-toppled-syrias-assad-key-questions-answered-national\/"},"modified":"2024-12-09T23:15:11","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T23:15:11","slug":"who-are-the-rebels-that-toppled-syrias-assad-key-questions-answered-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2024\/12\/09\/who-are-the-rebels-that-toppled-syrias-assad-key-questions-answered-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Who are the rebels that toppled Syria\u2019s Assad? Key questions answered – National"},"content":{"rendered":"


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After more than five decades in power, the al-Assad dynasty in Syria<\/a> was toppled on Sunday as President Bashar al-Assad<\/a> fled to Russia and rebels took the capital Damascus.<\/p>\n

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Assad\u2019s departure brought to a dramatic close his nearly 14-year struggle to hold onto control as his country fragmented in a brutal civil war.<\/p>\n

While the rebel coalition was made up of several factions, the group believed to be leading the offensive across Syria is the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tWhat is Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham?\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

According to the United States National Counterterrorism Center\u2019s list of foreign terrorist organizations,<\/a> Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is a coalition of northern Syria-based \u201cSunni Islamist insurgent groups\u201d that evolved from Jabhat al-Nusrah, or \u201cNusrah Front.\u201d<\/p>\n

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That is al-Qaida\u2019<\/strong>s former branch in Syria.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani \u2014 which is alternately spelled as al-Jawlani and al-Jolani \u2014 broke ties with al-Qaida in 2016. The U.S. National Counterterrorism Center says the break occurred over \u201cstrategic disagreements.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2017, the Nusrah Front merged with other anti-Assad groups in Syria to form Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.<\/p>\n

Joseph Varner,<\/strong> deputy director of the Conference of Defence Associations, said for al-Golani, al-Qaida was too extreme.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe point of departure has always been that they found al-Qaida and ISIS as being too violent and not interested in civil rights,\u201d Varner said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. State Department designated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as a terrorist organization in 2018, a designation it holds to this day.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tWho is Abu Muhammad al-Golani?\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Al-Golani\u2019s ties to al-Qaida stretch back to 2003, when he joined insurgents battling U.S. troops in Iraq. The Syrian native was detained by the U.S. military but remained in Iraq, according to the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

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During that time, an al-Qaida splinter group formed called the Islamic State of Iraq, led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.<\/p>\n

In 2011, a popular uprising in Syria against Assad triggered a brutal government crackdown and led to all-out civil war. Al-Golani\u2019s prominence grew when al-Baghdadi sent him to Syria to establish a the Nusrah Front.<\/p>\n

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The U.S. government has put a US$10 million bounty on him.<\/p>\n

In 2013, the Associated Press reported that al-Golani had defied al-Baghdadi\u2019s calls to dissolve the Nusrah Front and merge it with al-Qaida\u2019s operation in Iraq, to form the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.<\/p>\n

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