The leader of HTS, which appears to be the strongest of the rebel factions, has been portraying himself as a pragmatic and relative moderate Islamist, but talk is cheap and that could just be aimed at keeping the west out of his way while he consolidates power. He came up as a member of Al-Qaeda. People can change, but I’m skeptical.
I’m afraid that this will end up the same way that Islamist revolutions tend to go. Assad may have been a monster but are these rebels any better?
The leader of HTS, which appears to be the strongest of the rebel factions, has been portraying himself as a pragmatic and relative moderate Islamist, but talk is cheap and that could just be aimed at keeping the west out of his way while he consolidates power. He came up as a member of Al-Qaeda. People can change, but I’m skeptical.