OVERVIEW

HTS flag

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) that also serves as the primary governing body in Syria. HTS formed in 2017 as a coalition of Syrian opposition groups that evolved from al-Qa‘ida’s affiliate in Syria, the Nusrah Front. Since HTS’s leader publicly severed ties with al-Qa‘ida in 2016, he has publicly sought to distance the group from al-Qa‘ida’s global jihadist ideology.

HTS led a brief offensive that toppled the former Asad regime in late 2024, and the group formed a transitional Syrian government in early 2025. Since assuming power, HTS has struggled to stabilize Syria and unify the disparate armed factions throughout the country.

OPERATING AREA
The HTS-led interim government mainly operates in major cities in western Syria; the interim government has little influence over the Kurdish-dominated regions in northeastern Syria, the Druze-populated areas in southern Syria, and the Alawites in the western Syria.

MEMBERS
At least 40,000 as of early 2025

TACTICS AND TARGETS
Before December 2024, HTS used insurgency tactics to fight the Asad regime and maintained a military-like security apparatus in Idlib Province, including a formalized training academy. Currently, the HTS-led transitional government controls the Syrian Ministry of Defense and Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles.

TERRORIST GROUP DESIGNATION
In June 2018, the US State Department added HTS to the Nusrah Front’s existing FTO designation from May 2014.

KEY LEADERS

NOTABLE ATTACKS