The jihadist organisation announced its dissolution after achieving its goal of overthrowing the Assad regime [Getty]
Hurras Al-Din, commonly described as Al-Qaeda’s franchise in Syria, announced on Wednesday its dissolution, more than six weeks after Islamist-dominated rebels overthrew the Assad regime, although fighters have been told to keep their arms in case of further conflict.
In a statement, the group said after “the liberation of the land from the tyrant and the collapse of his army” its goals in Syria had been achieved.
Al-Qaeda established a presence in Syria soon after the start of the civil war in 2011, with its Jabhat Al-Nusra militia becoming one of the most powerful groups fighting to overthrow the Assad government. In 2016, Nusra renamed itself Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham – later becoming Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) – and cut ties with Al-Qaeda.
This, and conflict between different Islamist factions, led to the creation of Hurras Al-Din in 2018.
The organisation’s influence in Syria has waned since 2020 after HTS and its provincial administration in Idlib launched a crackdown on hardline jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group in its territory.
“Al-Qaeda’s central leadership recognises that Hurras al-Din as an organisation cannot serve any practical purpose now that the regime has gone,” historian and translator Aymenn Tamimi told The New Arab.
“Instead, the idea seems to be that its members should be willing to move to other fronts if required or perhaps participate in efforts alongside Syria’s Sunnis in combating external threats,” said Tamimi, a specialist on the Syrian civil war.
In its statement, Hurras Al-Din made an implicit reference to Israel’s recent seizure of Syrian territory in the south and advised Sunnis “not to lay down their weapons”.
“The land of the Levant is the graveyard of tyrants and colonisers and a tent for Muslims in their fight against the Jews and those who follow them,” it said.
Israel seized hundreds of square-kilometers of Syrian land after Assad fled the country, and currently occupies Mount Hermon, the UN buffer zone in the Golan Heights, and parts of Quneitra and Daraa governorates.
Its defence minister said Tuesday that Israeli troops will remain in Syria “indefinitely”.
The dissolution of Hurras Al-Din will come as a relief to the HTS-led interim government in Damascus, which can now reassure foreign powers that Al-Qaeda is no longer active in Syria, Tamimi said.
Clamping down on terrorism within its borders has been a key condition levied on Syria’s new government by Western countries before they agree to end crippling Assad-era economic sanctions.
