By Samah Abdul Fattah | 2024-09-19

Internal disputes within Tahrir al-Sham have resurfaced, this time between elements loyal to its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Joulani, and those who seek a return to a more hardline ideology, activists said.

New disputes within the extremist alliance have been brought out into the open, Idlib media activist Mahmoud Haj Kamel told Al-Fassel, with hardliners demanding "religious oversight" and a reactivation of the "morality police."

The hardliners accuse al-Joulani of distancing himself from the alliance's hardcore ideology, based on that of al-Qaeda and the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS).

Divisions came to the fore in late August when Tahrir al-Sham put an abrupt stop to the Paralympic Games held in Idlib city, in conjunction with the Paris Paralympic Games, after previously agreeing to allow the event.

Hardline factions objected to the opening torch-lighting ceremony and accused the organizers of "straying from religion," demanding that Tahrir al-Sham suspend the games and activate the religious police "to ban similar activities."

Idlib residents fear a return of the application of the alliance's harsh interpretation of sharia, having previously suffered "acts such as flogging, beatings, imprisonment and even execution in some cases," Haj Kamel said.

"Mistrust of Tahrir al-Sham now prevails because its leadership will not risk antagonizing the extremist wing, which has influence over most of the group's fighters," he added.

Internal divisions

Al-Joulani has tried to present himself as a moderate for political and strategic reasons and in the hope of garnering a political role after the end of the war in Syria, Syrian journalist Mohammed al-Abdullah told Al-Fassel.

"But at the same time he is expected internally to maintain the spirit of extremist Salafist ideology to satisfy a large segment of the leaders, emirs, jurists and members of the group" who subscribe to this, he said.

The alliance has been rife with internal divisions since its inception, he said, "and throughout that period al-Joulani has been able to eliminate his opponents and get rid of the strong arms that wielded heavy influence."

He has done this "through liquidations, accusations of working for external parties, or dismissal," al-Abdullah said, "but at the present time he is trying to avoid escalation of the disputes."

Al-Abdullah said that he expects al-Joulani to take the decision to activate a new 128-article "Religious Morals Law," which to date has been only sporadically enforced, and to "activate the morality police's tasks to satisfy the extremists."

"But he will undoubtedly face popular rejection, especially since the demonstrations rejecting al-Joulani himself and the group are still taking place."