- With the world’s attention focused on Ukraine, a potentially transformative development in northern Syria went largely unnoticed.
- On Oct. 13, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the jihadi faction that runs the northwestern province of Idlib and is by far the most powerful of all the Sunni rebel groups in Syria, moved into Afrin, the Kurdish-majority enclave that was occupied by Turkey in 2018.
- For one, HTS is the sole force that comes close to being any kind of a match for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the US-backed, Kurdish-led group that together with its civilian arms is running northeastern Syria.
<span>Are Syria’s HTS jihadis Turkey’s new friends?</span>
