IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – People in Idlib city and its countryside, northwest Syria, stage protests against the practices of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS-formerly al-Nusra Front) from time to time, but soon the security forces of the HTS quell the protests with the use of power, taking memories back to the practices used by the Syrian government against them.
The protests in Idlib, specially that condemn HTS practices, are faced by arrests, threats and intimidation and are often dispersed with live ammunition. Hence, the protesters do not achieve their demands.
A few days ago, protests in IDP camps in Atmeh were staged on the wake of arresting a woman that was smuggling fuel from Afrin to Atmeh camps. But the protests were faced with live ammunition in an attempt to disperse the protesters causing dismay among the IDPs specially the children.
Members of HTS stormed the two camps of Umm Shohada’ and Sfuhen, arrested several people, including a media activist, and fired bullets in the air injuring a child in the leg.
On February 17, members of HTS fired on a group of women and children who were smuggling few liters of diesel through Deir Ballout crossing in the north of Idlib. One woman was seriously injured and was hospitalized.
Fears of being chased by the security
The two-days protests faded away as the protesters were fearful of being chased by the security forces specially that they raised slogans reading “Is diesel more precious than our blood?” and “Our blood was shed by the regime and HTS”.
A source close to the injured woman and who preferred not to be named, said members of the HTS impose a tight security guard on the woman’s room inside the hospital and deny every media outlet to get access to her.
Members of the HTS forced the woman’s father to shoot a video, in less than hour after his daughter’s injury, to call his relatives not to interfere in the issue and to leave it to the court, the same source added.
Muhammad al-Omari, a pseudonym for an IDP journalist of Hama countryside who lives in Idlib, said that fears of being chased by the security forces of the HTS prompted the people not to go on with the protests.
The journalist added that in the past, imams of the mosques used to motive people to stand against injustice but now the imams follow the HTS and they are not free anymore.
On February 17, the Ministry of Endowments of the HTS’ Salvation Government distributed the Friday speeches in all the mosques in the areas it controls.
The speeches included the importance of the crossings and not to follow sedition and news published on social media. It also called to stop the bloodshed adopting the same policy followed by the Syrian government when it dictated imams to give speeches in its favor, the sources said.
Calls to armed marches
Khaled al-Khamis, a pseudonym for a 37-year-old man of Hama countryside who lives in Atmeh, told North Press that the security forces of the HTS work to seed intelligence system amongst the population.
“Unfortunately, there are thousands of missing people in the HTS-run detention centers and their families know nothing about them,” al-Khamis added.
Al-Khamis pointed out that the protests against HTS leader known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is unfruitful. “There is no force that can destroy his security forces. Peaceful protests and chanting slogans against him are useless.
The best solution to destroy the power of al-Jolani is to carry weapons, arm the people and stage armed protests against him, according to al-Khamis. “Fight fire with fire.”
In late January, dozens of IDPs in al-Karama camps in north of Idlib staged a protest demanding the release of the detainees.
Days earlier, a similar protest was staged in Deir Hassan village, north of Idlib, but the HTS security forces hunted the people who participated in the protest and arrested two.
By using live ammunition to quell the protests, Al-Khamis concluded that the Syrian government and the HTS are two sides of the same coin and that members of HTS are Shabihas who work under the command of al-Jolani.