HTS declaration

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Country/entity: Syria
Region: Middle East and North Africa
Agreement name: HTS declaration
Date: 23 Jul 2017
Agreement status: Multiparty signed/agreed
Interim arrangement: Yes
Agreement/conflict level: Intrastate/local conflict
Syrian Conflicts (1948 - ) (1976 - 2005) (2011 - )
The agreements relate to three different conflict contexts. Israel-Syria and Syria-Lebanon. The Syrian-Israeli conflict was a key factor for the Syrian intervention during the Lebanese Civil War, with Syrian-backed Palestinian Liberation Army units intervened in 1976 against the Palestinian/Leftist militias. Following a massacre at Tel al-Zaatar that year, Syria was forced to accept a ceasefire at a meeting of the Arab League. However, the Arab League also mandated an Arab Deterrence Force, consisting of mostly Syrian soldiers with token contributions from other Arab League states, thus further legitimizing the Syrian presence in Lebanon. During a second bout of fighting that began in 1989, caused by the formation of rival Lebanese regimes in East and West Beirut, the Syrian-backed regime won and in 1991 the ‘Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination’ was signed to legalize the Syrian occupation as a means to ensure the security of Syria. Syrian forces were forced to withdraw in 2005 following possible involvement in the assassination of Lebanon’s President Hariri.

Syria-internal. In 2011, domestic upheaval following a wave of protests across the Arab World soon led to violent repression of protestors by Syrian government troops. The violence progressed steadily and by July 2011 the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was formed consisting of defected military units and new recruits. The FSA and rebel umbrella group known as the Syrian National Council represented the first attempt at coordinating rebel factions in late 2011. However, a steady influx of foreign fighters and increased sectarianism radicalised opposition groups, which relied on foreign funding. The nature of the conflict changed drastically in late 2013 as infighting among the opposition groups increased. One of the more significant developments was the split between the al-Qaeda outfits the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS), and Jabhat al-Nusra in early 2014 in addition to the intensified targeting of other rebel factions by ISIS fighters in particular, including the Kurdish Peshmerga, the FSA and other jihadist outfits. Since the summer of 2014, the conflict was further internationalized when ISIS announced the formation of an Islamic state eroding the state line between Iraq and Syria and also in mid-2015 when Russian forces intervened on behalf of the Bashar al-Assad government in Damascus.
Stage: Framework/substantive - partial
Conflict nature: Inter-group
Peace process: Syrian Local Agreements
Parties: The first party: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham represented by brother Abu Obeida al- ‘Askari
he second party: Ahrar al-Sham movement represented by brother Muhammad Fareed
Third parties: The first witness Sheikh Ahmed Al Khaled
The second witness Safwan al-Hasan
The third witness Sheikh Ibrahim al- ‘Awadh Abu Suleiman
Description: -

Agreement document: SY_170723_HTS_Declaration_tr.pdf (opens in new tab) | Download PDF
Agreement document (original language): SY_170723_HTS_Declaration.pdf (opens in new tab)| Download PDF

Local agreement properties

Process type: Informal but persistent process
Rationale: -> Local issues only; no external support mechanism; culture of signing There is no formally established mechanism to support the negotiation between Salafi armed groups. Moreover, this agreement cannot be linked to the national peace process. Indeed, both groups have a Salafist ideology; they oppose the rule of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and reject the idea of a national negotiation to solve the conflict. The text mentions that the agreement solves "the internal fighting between the brothers" of HTS and HAS. Yet, it seems that both signing parties choose to solve daily pragmatic issues related to their armed struggle through agreements. Although one cannot speak of a “culture” of singing peace agreements, the parties are involved (in a non-proactive and non-conscious way) in a persistent practice of signing local agreements in Idlib governorate in July 2017.
Is there a documented link to a national peace process?: No
Link to national process: articulated rationale: No link to the national peace process in Syria is mentioned in the agreement, neither it can be inferred from further research. First, the agreement does not involve local governance actors; and the signing parties themselves are not official state representative. Second, all parties to the agreement reject the national peace process, as it would maintain Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian government in power. Yet, the agreement is related to multiple local level processes in Idlib governorate in July 2017.
Name of Locale: Mount Shashabo
Nature of Locale: Region
GPS Lat/Long (DD): 35.562845, 36.444781
Participant type: Local armed group
Domestic religious organisation/leader or other elder
Mediator, facilitator or similar: Mediator or similar referred to
Mediator (references): The agreement was signed in the presence of the elders of Mount Shashabo represented by: - Sheikh Ahmed al-Khaled Abu Majed - Safwan Ismaeel al-Hasan - Amr Muhammad al-Jasem - Abdul Fattah al-Ahmad - Mahmoud al-Obeid al-Aleiwi - Nuri Hasan al-Othman
Type of mediator/facilitator/similar: Domestic religious organisation/leader or other elder

Local issues

Ritual/prayer and process (including use of scripture): Page 1, In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Page 1, Done and praise to Allah [...]
Grievance List: The agreement addresses the local grievances that arose from the clashes between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham in Mount Shashabo. It seems that the handover of Ahrar al-Sham's headquarters to the civil population was a main point of contention.
Cattle rustling/banditry: No specific mention.
Social cover: No specific mention.

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Done and praise to Allah and in the presence of all of the elderly [elders] people of Mount Shamshabo represented by

1. Sheikh Ahmed al-Khaled Abu Majed

2. Safwan Ismaeel al-Hasan

3. Amr Muhammad al-Jasem

4. Abdul Fattah al-Ahmad

5. Mahmoud al-Obeid al-Aleiwi

6. Nuri Hasan al-Othman

-Neutralize Mount Shamshabo starting from the village of Felfil in the north to the village of al- ‘Arima in the south.

[discussion] about 1.

The internal fighting between the brothers in the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [Organization for the Liberation of the Levant] and the brothers in the Ahrar al- Sham [full name is Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya, translate into English as the Islamic Movement of the Free Men of the Levant]

2. Handover Rasha headquarter of Ahrar al-Sham Movement to brother Safwan al-Hasan and Abdul Fattah al-Ahmad as they are people of the land [the owners of the land]

The first party The second party Hayat Tahrir al-Sham represented by brother Ahrar al- Sham movement represented by brother Abu Obeida al- ‘Askari Muhammad Fareed

[Signature] [Signature]

The first witness The second witness The third witnes Sheikh Ahmed Al Khaled Safwan al-Hasan Sheikh Ibrahim al- ‘Awadh Abu Suleiman

[Signature] [Signature] [Signature]