Protests in Idlib, Aleppo against HTS, demand release of detainees
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Idlib City witnessed protests after Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham arrested 10 women, while Saadallah al-Jabri Square in Aleppo witnessed similar protests demanding the release of detainees.
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From the women's demonstration in Aleppo, demanding that HTS release detainees on December 22, 2024. (Social Media)
Protests have resumed in central Idlib city, calling for the release of detainees and against Ahmad al-Sharaa (al-Jolani), the head of the military operations department in Syria.
A video clip circulating on social media shows militants in Idlib threatening al-Sharaa, the leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), warning of repercussions if 10 women detained by the group are not released.
مسلحون في إدلب يهددون أحمد الشرع "الجولاني" بعد أن اتهموا "هيئة تحرير الشام" باختطاف 10 نساء تظاهرن للمطالبة بالإفراج عن المعتقلين في سجون الهيئة في إدلب.#الميادين pic.twitter.com/ybQm8dzlSD
— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) December 22, 2024
In parallel, Saadallah al-Jabri Square in Aleppo witnessed a demonstration against HTS, where participants demanded the release of detainees from the organization's prisons in Idlib.
Participants raised pictures of the detainees, chanting slogans against al-Sharaa.
Women whose husbands and sons have been arrested by HTS held a demonstration yesterday in Aleppo.
— Lindsey Snell (@LindseySnell) December 22, 2024
Afterwards, HTS arrested 10 of the women who protested, including one who is 8 months pregnant. pic.twitter.com/XIquy1H3D6
It is worth noting that before the fall of the Assad regime, there were protests against the HTS leader in Idlib and Aleppo.
In March, the cities of Idlib and Jisr al-Shughur, under the control of HTS at the time in northwestern Syria, witnessed protests after the Taraweeh prayers demanding the dissolution of the group's so-called Security Apparatus and unraveling the fate of detainees in its prisons.
Similarly, demonstrations emerged from mosques in the towns of Binnish and Kfar Takharim in northern Idlib countryside, raising slogans calling for the ousting of the HTS chief.
Areas in the countryside of Idlib and Western Aleppo witnessed daily protests for weeks following the arrest of hundreds of HTS members by al-Jolani's Security Apparatus, under the pretext of their alleged collaboration with foreign parties.
The protesters demanded the ousting of al-Jolani and the dissolution of his Security Apparatus due to the arrests and enforced disappearances of thousands, as well as the imposition of additional taxes, which tightened the noose around the locals and deprived them of basic life necessities.
Read next: Families of foreign militants storm 'court', chant against al-Jolani
