Amir Taheri
Almost dormant for four years, last week the volcano of the Syrian uprising erupted with a vengeance. In four days, its lava covered the country's second largest city Aleppo before moving towards central cities of Hama and Homs on its way to the capital Damascus.
The force that carried out the operation came under the label "Mission to Liberate the Levant" (Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham) but was quickly identified as a reincarnation of the Victory Front (Jabhat al-Nusra), which was the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda.
Whoever redesigned that force as a "new and improved product" wanted to achieve three goals.
The first was to transform it into something resembling a regular army with uniforms, high-quality arms and matériel, and plans for creating an administration in conquered areas.
The second aim was to distance itself from jihadism by claiming it will protect religious minorities and avoiding the usual blood-curdling jihadist rhetoric. Thirdly, it is marketed as an army of liberation whose primary aim is to drive out unspecified "foreign occupiers."
Nevertheless, the use of the label "Levant" (Sham) puts a question mark in front of the "liberating force." Using that medieval term instead of the word Syria, which jihadists have always regarded as alien because it was put in use under the French mandate, the group and its backers implicitly deny the existence of a Syrian nation-state.
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