AFRIN, Syria (North Press) – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) announced a full retreat from Afrin, in northern Aleppo, after it took control of a number of towns in mid-October 2022 and forced out the Turkish-backed Third Legion of the Syrian National Army (SNA). However, HTS’ presence, along with its civilian wing, the ‘Syrian Salvation Government’, is still present across Afrin – especially in Jindires, Basouta, and Sheikh al-Hadid, where the Hamza Division and Sultan Suleiman Shah factions, HTS’ allies, are deployed.
In early October 2022, HTS attacked Afrin, which was under the control of Turkish–backed SNA factions, in order to defend Hamza Division, which was being attacked by the Third Legion in the city of al-Bab, in northern Aleppo.
The attacks were launched after it became clear that Hamza Division members had been involved in the assassination of Muhammad Abu Ghanoum, a local activist, and his pregnant wife in al-Bab city on October 9, and because it opposed other factions in the region. HTS managed to take control of the region in only a few days.
Following its take-over of Afrin, HTS sources announced a full retreat from the region days later. HTS-affiliated media released footage showing HTS convoys retreating from Afrin after agreeing to hand it over to a civilian administration, on the condition that the Third Legion would not return to Afrin.
Sources suggest Turkey threatened and pressured HTS to completely pull back from the region. However, other sources say that there is still an HTS presence in Afrin and that it has not fully retreated.
A formal retreat
Muhanad al-Halabi, a pseudonym for a commander in the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, an SNA faction, told North Press that the HTS’ retreat from Afrin in late 2022 was merely formal and a way to bring back heavy weapons it had confiscated to its warehouses in the Idlib countryside.
HTS left behind around 350 members and commanders in Afrin city, Jindires, Sheikh al-Hadid, and Basouta, all in Afrin. “The members are present in the region as allied factions with HTS, such as Sultan Suleiman Shah and Hamza Division,” according to the source.
At the same time, three groups of the General Apparatus, affiliated with HTS, are publicly present in Sheikh al-Hadid and the woods in the Jabal al-Ahlam region, located near the village of Basouta. They are an intelligence apparatus that conducts operations such as pursuing wanted personnel in the region and arresting members of the Third Legion.
In addition to other tasks, the most important of which is “preventing the Sultan Suleiman Shah and Hamza factions from turning against HTS in the region, especially since interests come before anything else for both parties,” the source added.
Al-Halabi noted that “what obviously confirms HTS’ presence in the region is when its leader, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, days after the devastating February 6 earthquakes, toured the city of Jindires surrounded by dozens of members of HTS’ security apparatus in plain sight of the al-Sham Legion, Jaysh al-Sharqiyah, the military police, and other factions.”
The Salvation Government also entered the region supposedly to help quake-affected people, opened a medical center at Jindires’ eastern entrance, and put up a large sign with its logo visible to the public.
According to the commander, the Salvation Government seeks to present itself as the government suitable to rule the region, since the SNA-linked Interim Government, with which Jindires is administratively affiliated, did not take action to assist the affected people in Jindires.
He added that HTS’ presence in the Afrin region is not limited to asserting power only. Prominent HTS leaders participate in training members of the Sultan Suleiman Shah faction in Sheikh al-Hadid during military courses periodically held in the region.
The courses are not limited to military training. HTS lawmakers “promote their ideology to members of Sultan Suleiman Shah,” which was confirmed by the members who attended the training. “They also hold lectures on sharia in order to recruit them into the ranks of HTS, especially since most of them were anti-HTS for years,” according to al-Halabi.
Turkey and Turkmen factions
Since taking control of Afrin during the military operation launched in tandem with the SNA in January 2018, Turkey has attached Turkmen fighters to its affiliated forces and has provided them with generous support.
This resulted in the formation of the Sultan Suleiman Shah faction, led by Muhammad al-Jasim (or Abu Amshah), who is of Turkmen origin, and Hamza Division, a group established in April 2016 and trained by Turkey, which was set to be integrated with the Samarkand Brigade, a Turkmen group named after the city in Uzbekistan.
This group was one of the first Turkish-backed groups to enter the Syrian city of Jarabulus in 2017 from the Karkemish border crossing, taking control of the city with the help of the Turkish forces, alongside dozens of smaller groups which joined the two factions.
Turkish differences between faction
Fouad Suwed, the alias of a military expert, told North Press that racism among the Syrian opposition did not exist before Turkish forces entered Syrian territory.
According to the expert, Turkey “created these differences in order to strengthen one faction at the expense of another, and to ensure its [the supported faction] allegiance in the future under the pretext of ‘Turkish fraternity’, as it considers Syrian Turkmen a part of Turkey.”
Nearly a year ago, judicial institutions affiliated with the opposition and its factions launched a media campaign against the Sultan Suleiman Shah faction with the aim of terminating it. They issued a statement suspending the leader, Muhammad al-Jasim (Abu Amshah). However “it was rejected by Turkish intelligence,” stressing that the faction and its leader were “under the protection of the Turkish authorities and could not be terminated without Turkey’s approval.”
Suwed added that the last campaign conducted by the Third Legion factions against Hamza Division was a result of their involvement in the assassination of activist Abu Ghanoum and his wife. “We saw the Sultan Suleiman Shah faction support Hamza Division because they are Turkmen, and this was ordered by Turkey.”
As Hamza Division was about to lose and Sultan Suleiman Shah failed to support them, Turkey granted permission to HTS to enter Afrin and support both factions, which were considered mortal enemies of HTS for years.
HTS used the pretext to expand its influence in Afrin. However, Turkey pushed back, as it prefers to keep Afrin fully under the control of Turkmen factions.
However, Turkey allowed some HTS forces, such as the General Apparatus, to stay undercover in Afrin in order to pursue security issues, as Turkey does not trust Sultan Suleiman Shah or Hamza Division to implement security, the source added.