Transformed by the People

Few had predicted that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate collaborating with other rebels, could topple Syria’s Assad regime with such swiftness and determination. In this gripping chronicle, Patrick Haenni and Jerome Drevon unravel the dramatic transformation of HTS, from a besieged insurgent enclave in Idlib to architects of a new government in Damascus. Drawing on interviews with HTS leaders—including ministers, civil society figures and Ahmad al-Sharaa himself— the authors reveal the group’s pragmatic evolution. Through firsthand observation, they uncover how HTS approached religious minorities, redefined its understanding of Islamic law, navigated relations with Syria’s neighbours and confronted both al- Qaeda and Islamic State.

From 2019 onwards, global and local constraints prompted HTS to reshape its identity—allying with Turkey, a NATO member and secular state; coexisting with a non-radical conservative society; and embracing the lower clergy’s popular, mosque-based Islam. It also adopted a bold ‘Thermidorian’ strategy, betting on the silent majority to marginalise die-hard radicals.

This book offers a glimpse into HTS’s alternative governance model in northwest Syria, blending frontline narratives with sharp analysis to account for the group’s success as it outmanoeuvred the Assadist regime and mapped its own path to power in a war-torn society.