The Goal of Rebel Group HTS: Amid the ongoing civil war in Syria, the Islamic rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of Hama, another major city of the Syrian regime, on Thursday (5 December). Meanwhile, HTS commander Abu Mohammad al-Jolani told about his goal in an interview given to CNN.  

In an exclusive interview with CNN, HTS commander Jolani clearly said that the only goal of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is to end the regime of President Bashar al-Assad who is in power in Syria. At the same time, Jolani talked about forming a government in Syria that would be based on institutions and would be run through a council elected by the people.

Assad regime has to be overthrown by any means- Al-Jolani

"When we talk about our objectives, the only goal is to overthrow the Syrian regime and it is our right to use all means available to achieve this," the HTS commander told CNN. "The seeds of the Assad regime's defeat have always been within it. The Iranians tried to revive the regime and later the Russian regime also tried to keep the Assad regime alive. But the truth is that the regime is dead," he added.

It is noteworthy that the attacks by the rebel group HTS have been quite surprising. Due to which HTS attacked and captured Syria's second largest city Aleppo. At the same time, it has now captured Syria's strategic city Hama as well. The sudden attack by HTS has given a tremendous blow to Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime and the countries supporting him and has again given rise to the civil war that had been dormant for years.

Syria's opposition forces are made up of different ideologies

Jolani said, "Syria's opposition forces are decentralized and consist of different ideologies. However, all these forces are united by the goal of overthrowing the Assad regime." Jolani has tried to distance his new group from al-Qaeda, yet in 2018 the US declared HTS as a foreign terrorist organization and also placed a $10 million bounty on Jolani.