Its members still call each other by their noms de guerre, even a year after toppling the Assad regime. The state is now firmly in its grip, the country's security forces bolstered by foreign fighters.
Yet Syria’s new government insists it will deliver pluralism and it may soon find itself courting the US as a prospective ally.
President Ahmad Al Shara said “we are not ashamed of our past” at a talk to Syrians in Washington last month, where he was joined by Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani. Mr Al Shara addressed him as Abu Aisha as he outlined his vision for an economically resurgent Syria, with a new constitution and elections in five years, according to someone who attended the event.
Mr Al Shibani was known as Abu Aisha when he was a militant comrade of Mr Al Shara in Iraq and Syria. Mr Al Shibani helped him found Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, the former Al Qaeda affiliate, which led he assault that toppled the Assad regime on December 8, 2024. It had ruled Syria since mainly Alawite officers took power in a 1963 coup, led by Hafez Al Assad, father of ousted president Bashar Al Assad.
The topplin
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