The operation that led to the fall of the Assad regime began to take shape a year ago.
Abu Hassan al-Hamwi, the military chief of Hayat Tahrir al-Shams (HTS), tells this in an interview with The Guardian.
Among other things, rebel leaders in the southern part of the country, which had been under the regime's control since 2018, were contacted. A large part of the rebel group leaders were in exile in Jordan, where they maintained contact with their respective groups.
Operations Room
With the help of the Islamist movement, an operations room was formed that gathered the commanders of around 25 different rebel groups in the southern parts of the country, each of which would coordinate their fighters' movements with each other and with HTS in the north.
The goal was for HTS to approach from the north and the southern rebel groups from the south to then encircle the capital Damascus.
We had a conviction based on historical events that "Damascus cannot fall until Aleppo falls". The strength of the Syrian revolution was concentrated in the north and we believed that when Aleppo was liberated, we could move south towards Damascus, says al-Hamwi to the newspaper.
But already five years ago, the Islamist movement HTS began to develop a military doctrine aimed at transforming unorganized opposition and jihadist groups in Syria into a unified disciplined fighting force.
The group realized the need for unified leadership after their positions were severely weakened by the government's operations in northwestern Syria in 2019, according to Abu Hassan al-Hamwi.
Manufactured Their Own Drones
In 2019, a unit was also created that brought together engineers, mechanics, and chemists whose goal was to manufacture different types of drones.
One of the self-made suicide drones was used for the first time in the offensive in December and, according to The Guardian, caused significant damage to the regime's forces.
HTS also began to manufacture its own weapons, vehicles, and ammunition. At a disadvantage against the Assad regime, which had an air force and support from Russia and Iran, the group knew it had to be creative to get the most out of its limited resources.
What ultimately determined the timing of the attack was that the group saw that al-Assad's allies abroad were busy with other wars and conflicts, which created a strategic opening, says Abu Hassan al-Hamwi.
Until last Sunday, the Syrian state had been ruled with an iron fist by the al-Assad family since the 1970s.
Syria's political system was formed by Hafiz al-Assad, president from 1970 to 2000. Son Bashar al-Assad inherited power after his father's death in 2000 and made some changes. But the underlying system remained the same: with the president as both head of state, supreme commander, and with the highest executive power.
The uprising against Bashar al-Assad's regime that began in connection with the Arab Spring in 2011 soon took the form of a civil war with significant involvement of foreign powers, resulting in many deaths and a massive refugee wave.
A new constitution was adopted in 2012. Syria was declared a multi-party democracy, but only parties loyal to al-Assad were allowed, and the new constitution did not change how the country was governed in practice.
Independent organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have repeatedly reported on al-Assad's brutal rule and the state-controlled secret police that systematically tortured, imprisoned, and killed opponents of the regime.
