Inside sex slave-owning al-Qaeda splinter group HTS storming across Syria arresting TikTokers in mission to oust Assad

In an attempt to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, the militant Islamist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has swept across Syria in a matter of days.

Despite efforts to improve its negative reputation in recent years, the lighting offensive has brought the group and its sordid past involving ISIS and al-Qaeda back into the public eye.

Since Assad halted demonstrations for democracy in 2011, Syria has been at war.

People sought to protect themselves as his violent crackdowns grew more severe, which resulted in the formation of armed groups like HTS.

A group made up of terrorists

The largest opposition group in Syria’s “Operation Deterrence of Aggression” to overthrow the Assad government is the Sunni Muslim movement known as HTS.

Prior to changing its name to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the group, which was founded in 2012, was known as Jabhat al-Nusra.

Following the US invasion of neighboring Iraq in 2003, Abu Mohammedal Jolani, the head of HTS, joined the fight against US forces under the leadership of al-Qaeda.

He returned in 2011 during the revolt against Assad, and by 2012, he had founded the Nusra Front, also known as Jabhat al-Nusra.

The Nusra Front was founded by the well-known terrorist organization ISIS, whose crazed commander claims it is a Syrian subordinate to his heinous organization.

However, HTS changed its stance and pledged loyalty to al-Qaeda as the two terrorist organizations fought for fighters in Syria.

The gang, which carried out the largest terrorist attack in history on September 11, 2001, supplied HTS with men, weapons, and funding.

However, in 2017, it broke with al-Qaeda and joined other factions, ultimately evolving into its new name, HTS.

Sex slaves, organ trafficking and torture

As with its predecessors, HTS has a long history of sexually abusing women and girls after being founded by ISIS and thereafter demonstrating loyalty to al-Qaeda.

Men have reportedly coerced women and girls into marriage, human trafficking, and sex slavery.

In the horrific violations of human rights, some have even been known to be given as “gifts” to commanders.

After being sold by her own uncle for $5,000 while under HTS control, one woman had described the anguish she had experienced.

She described to Al-Monitor how she was brought to a home where a woman was operating a prostitution ring after being purchased.

She claimed that she had been raped on multiple occasions and sold to the man who had purchased her.

The teenager stated: “I told my uncle about what I was going through in this house but he did nothing to save me.”

Surprisingly, victims have also been trafficked for organs in Idlib.

However, there is presently no official statistics on the precise number of victims impacted by such horrible crimes, according to Asma Khalil, head of the Syrian Center for Victims of Human Trafficking.

Additionally, many families “hide what happened” to their daughters “for fear of shame and stigmatization by society” because they sell them for cash.

Furthermore, HTS’s violations of human rights go beyond just women and girls; the group also engages in horrific torture, bombings, massacres, and kidnappings.

The group’s imprisonment operations were described as “brutal” by the UN because of the variety of techniques employed.

Since the US classified HTS as a foreign terrorist organization in 2018, the group has attempted to project a more sane image in an effort to gain influence in Syria, which it currently seeks to do.

The group actually declared on Monday that Syrian Kurds have a “full right to live in dignity and freedom” and that they would “not allow anyone to disrupt or attempt to undermine the brotherhood and cooperation between all parts of Syrian society.”

HTC now seeks to identify itself as a Syrian revolutionary Islamist movement, something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

In order to preserve a credible image, it allows the Kurdish People’s Protection Units to travel freely and escape to their stronghold in northeastern Syria.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s control in Syria

HTS is believed to have up to an incredible 30,000 fighters and currently controls Idlib.

Additionally, the group controls the economy of a portion of the region and its resources, particularly petroleum, which is a major source of revenue.

The organization has refrained from enforcing Islamic practices in accordance with ultra-conservative beliefs since seizing power in 2017, although it continues to enforce gender segregation in colleges and universities.

But the group hasn’t outlawed smoking or had women hide their faces.

However, HTS has a problem with social media and keeps an eye on a number of apps, including TikTok, which has led to the detention of those who upload videos that they deem “immoral.”

The gang, which is an ally of Vladimir Putin, unexpectedly attacked the regime of Assad last Wednesday.

Following the swift advance in the area, rebels were able to take control of the majority of Aleppo and freely roam the streets.

Numerous advances have already been made, and Syria’s military, supported by Russian airstrikes, is anticipated to eventually establish a “defensive line” to thwart any additional advances.

With the Islamist-led rebels fighting Assad’s army on Tuesday as they moved towards the city of Hama in central Syria, the main thrust of the surprise onslaught has now turned south, according to a war monitor.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor stated that since starting the lightning onslaught last week, HTS and its supporters have engaged in some of the “most violent” skirmishes with local troops.

Conflicts have broken out in the rural areas of northern Hama, where rebel groups have taken control of many cities and villages in the past few hours, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“Syrian and Russian air forces carried out dozens ofstrikeson the area.”

Hama will be Assad’s main target because it is a vital city that connects Aleppo to the capital, Damascus.

However, scores of Syrian army tanks and military vehicles were left by the side of the road in the northern Hama countryside, where an AFP journalist was stationed.

Early in the civil conflict, the city was a stronghold of anti-Assad sentiment and the scene of regular large-scale demonstrations.

The director of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, stated that a rebel capture of Hama would “pose a threat to the regime’s popular base”.

Russia has promised to continue supporting the most recent fighting and first directly involved in Syria’s conflict in 2015 by striking areas controlled by rebels.

The State News Agency Additionally, SANA reported airstrikes on the northwest rebel stronghold of Idlib and the province of Hama.

Another rebel fighter, Abu al-Huda al-Sourani, told AFP, “We want to advance on Hama after combing” the conquered towns.

Assad is from an Alawite minority in the western countryside of the province.

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