Agreement of reconciliation between Hurras al-Din and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in the countryside of Aleppo

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Country/entity: Syria
Region: Middle East and North Africa
Agreement name: Agreement of reconciliation between Hurras al-Din and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in the countryside of Aleppo
Date: 8 Feb 2019
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: Other
Conflict nature: Inter-group
Peace process: Syrian Local Agreements
Parties: Hayʼat Tahrīr al-Shām
Abu Omar Badia

Hurrās ad-Dīn
Abu Abdullah al-Suori
Third parties: -
Description: An agreement for 'alliance'. A short agreement which commits two groups who were formerly unifed, and then had split, to cooperate to end conflict between them, and undertake joint governance and other forms of cooperation, in order to better fight 'a common enemy'.

Agreement document: SY_190208_Agreement of reconciliation between Hurras al-Din and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in the countryside of Aleppo.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 No formally established mechanism supported the negotiation between the two armed groups. Moreover, this agreement cannot be linked to the national peace process. Indeed, both groups oppose the rule of Bashar al-Assad in Syria and reject the idea of a national negotiation to solve the conflict. Yet, it seems that both signing parties (especially Tahrir al-Sham) choose to solve their quarrels through agreements. Few other agreements were signed by opposition groups in Aleppo governorate from 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.
Name of Locale: Tal Hadya
Nature of Locale: Smaller
GPS Lat/Long (DD): 35.995119, 36.942429
Participant type: Local armed group
Mediator, facilitator or similar: No mention of mediator or similar

Local issues

Ritual/prayer and process (including use of scripture): Page 1, Praise be to God and prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of God, his family and companions, and his supporter, and after:

Page 1, In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
Praise be to God, prayer and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah and after...

Page 1, Whereas, we count the two groups as Mujahidin who work to support religion and achieve
God's will in his land.

Page 1, God Bless
Grievance List: The agreement addresses the grievances of Tahrir al-Sham after some of its soldiers were injured following a clash with Hurras al-Din at the entrance of Tal Hadba village.
Cattle rustling/banditry: No specific mention.
Social cover: Page 1,

The two parties agreed on the Badia incident at the Tal Hadba checkpoint, on the following
1- Forming a court regarding the blood that was [shed] in the accident, in which Sheikh Abu Muhammad Wahb, is to be the judge. Those who fired from Ḥurrās ad-Dīn to be arrested
and transferred to court.

Praise be to God and prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of God, his family and companions, and his supporter, and after:

2-6-1440

8-2-2019

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

Praise be to God, prayer and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah and after...

On Friday night 2/6/1440, the brothers between Hayʼat Tahrīr al-Shām [Organization for the Liberation of the Levant] and brothers in Hurrās ad-Dīn [The Guardians of Religion Organization] sat.

It was a good session filled with a spirit of faith in which the two parties pledged to stop the media quarrelling, and to cooperate with each other to fight the enemy.

Whereas, we count the two groups as Mujahidin who work to support religion and achieve God's will in his land.

The two parties agreed on the Badia incident at the Tal Hadba checkpoint, on the following

1- Forming a court regarding the blood that was [shed] in the accident, in which Sheikh Abu Muhammad Wahb, is to be the judge.

Those who fired from Ḥurrās ad-Dīn to be arrested and transferred to court.

2- In the event that Hurrās ad-Dīn want to carry out an executive action within the Badia, this is not will only be done in coordination with the Badia faction of Hayʼat Taḥrīr al-Shām

God Bless

Hayʼat Tahrīr al-Shām

Abu Omar Badia

[signature] [stamp]

Hurrās ad-Dīn

Abu Abdullah al-Suori

[signature]