Anti-Assad Syrians Protest Against Jihadi Rebels

Facts

• Protests in rebel-held northwestern Syria against Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which rules the enclave of Idlib and has influence in other areas, continued this week after beginning in late February.¹
• Protesters, who oppose the government of Pres. Bashar al-Assad, have criticized HTS' internal security services, accusing them of mistreating prisoners and running 'slaughterhouses.'¹
• During demonstrations on March 15, which marked 13 years since the beginning of widespread anti-government protests in Syria in 2011, protesters called for the downfall of Assad and HTS' leader, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.²
• Late last month, HTS issued a resolution replacing the head of its security apparatus, Abu Ahmad Hudud, with Abu Abdullah Horan. Hudud is reportedly behind a wave of arrests of high-ranking HTS officials al-Jolani accused of sparking the protests.³
• The US State Department has designated both HTS and its previous iteration, the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Though HTS denies any connection to the group, Washington claims it's a 'vehicle to advance [al-Qaida's] position in the Syrian uprising.'⁴
• HTS, which has set up its own security apparatus as well as a civil administration in the Idlib region, is often accused of human rights abuses, including torture, sexual violence, and enforced disappearances.⁵

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²Guardian, ³Al Mayadeen English, ⁴CSIS and ⁵Voice of America.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Al Jazeera. HTS, though often vilified in the West, is a reasonable organization that seeks to rule with legitimacy under serious constraints, such as a large refugee population, regular regime bombing, and foreign interference. Regardless of tragic incidents, HTS is committed to defending the Syrians from the Assad regime and upholding the principles of the Syrian Revolution.
• Narrative B, as provided by Enab Baladi. Syrians have demanded one thing since the beginning of their revolution — dignity. The dignity not to be tortured by security officials or called foreign agents for dreaming of a free Syria. Syrians will continue to agitate against all those who seek to control them, whether they be named Jolani or Assad.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Al Mayadeen English. Since 2011, the internationally-recognized Syrian government has been locked into an existential struggle between the region's resistance and foreign-backed Jihadists. As protesters in northern Syria may now be realizing, Jolani and the rest of the terrorists that destroyed Syria are pawns for US interests in the region.

Predictions