Damascus:
Syria’s Islamist-led insurgent alliance had been planning the shock ouster of President Basher al-Assad for a 12 months, an opposition navy chief instructed the Guardian in an interview revealed Friday.
The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Islamist group, which says it has moved away from its roots in Al-Qaeda, has long-controlled part of northwest Syria.
After being weakened in a 2019 authorities operation, the group realised the “basic drawback was the absence of unified management and management over battle”, Abu Hassan al-Hamwi, an HTS commander and former chief of the group’s navy wing, instructed the UK each day.
Correcting these errors, HTS started final 12 months getting ready for a retaliatory operation dubbed “Deterring Aggression” to oust Assad.
It strengthened its management over opposition teams within the northwest and educated up its personal militia, creating a “complete navy doctrine”.
HTS then tried to deliver collectively insurgent and jihadist forces in southern Syria, beneath Assad’s management for the previous six years, to create a “unified struggle room”, in accordance with the Guardian article.
The “struggle room” convened commanders of 25 opposition teams who may steer the offensive in opposition to Assad from the south, with HTS driving in from the north, and converging within the capital and Assad’s stronghold Damascus.
The second to launch the operation got here in late November, with Syria’s staunch allies Iran and Russia distracted by different conflicts.
Over the weekend, the rebels succeeded in coming into Damascus after sweeping by way of the cities of Aleppo, Hama and Homs within the north, inflicting Assad to flee the nation and ending 5 a long time of brutal rule by his clan.
“We had a conviction, supported by historic precedent: that ‘Damascus can not fall till Aleppo falls'”, Hamwi stated.
“The energy of the Syrian revolution was concentrated within the north, and we believed that after Aleppo was liberated, we may transfer southward towards Damascus,” he added.
The plan additionally concerned creating higher weapons to counter the know-how Tehran and Moscow supplied to the federal government forces.
“We would have liked reconnaissance drones, assault drones and suicide drones, with a concentrate on vary and endurance,” Hamwi stated, with drone manufacturing starting as early as 2019.
Hamwi named a brand new exploding or “suicide drone” the “Shahin” drone, that means falcon in Arabic, which “symbolised their precision and energy”, the navy chief stated.
The “Shahin” drone was deployed for the primary time in opposition to Assad’s forces this month, in accordance with the Guardian, disabling artillery automobiles.
HTS is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by a number of Western powers, however has sought to reassure non secular minorities and different governments since coming to energy that it’ll usher in an inclusive management.
“We affirm that minorities in Syria are a part of the nation and have the appropriate to apply their rituals, training, and providers like each different Syrian citizen,” Hamwi stated.
“The regime planted division, and we try, as a lot as attainable, to bridge these divides,” he added.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)