A recent deal with Turkish-backed rebel fighters has quietly handed control of Syria's northwest to Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, and civilians are now terrified of the extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary arrests that the Al-Qaeda-linked militants will inflict upon their communities as it tightens its grip on dissent. Hazaa, an activist from Kafranbel in Idlib, knows firsthand how brutally HTS deals with those who question the group.
The Salvation Government is an Idlib-based administrative body formed by HTS in November 2017 .
The Salvation Government had previously issued a number of ultimatums against Turkey-backed Syrian opposition groups and demanded they cease all operations in the northwest.
The reality on the ground, Lund said, is that there is no longer any real opposition to HTS inside Idlib. Until now, a full-scale offensive against Idlib has been averted because of a deal brokered by Russia and Turkey in September last year. The Sochi deal, which created a buffer zone between regime and opposition forces, also stipulated that "radically minded rebels," including HTS, had to withdraw.
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