The Turkish state-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham gangs have entered Aleppo city center. After clashes with the Damascus government forces that have been going on since 26 November, the gangs that began advancing on the evening of 27 November entered Aleppo city center on Friday.

It was noteworthy that the regime forces did not respond to the gangs advancing on the city center. TV channels close to the government claimed that the Syrian General Staff had given statements to its forces in Aleppo to evacuate the area.

On the other hand, the people living in the areas controlled by the Damascus regime in Aleppo are taking refuge in the Şêxmeqsud and Eşrefiyê neighborhoods run by the Autonomous Administration, and under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is a jihadist alliance that has controlled Idlib province in northwestern Syria since 2017, formed by the merger of several Islamist groups, including the al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra, which rebranded as Fateh al-Sham in 2016. Listed as a “terrorist” organization by the UN Security Council, HTS has expanded its influence into SNA-held northern Syria, often with the tacit approval of Turkey. HTS seeks to project an image of respectability and governance reliability, despite reports of an increasingly totalitarian regime and Islamist theocracy in Idlib. The international community should be wary of HTS’s expansion into Turkish-occupied territory, as it has been linked to anti-Semitic propaganda and has ties to al-Qaeda, despite efforts to distance itself from its jihadist roots. Notably, a perpetrator involved in a foiled terrorist attack in Munich expressed sympathy for HTS, highlighting the group’s continued relevance in the broader landscape of extremist threats.