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Transformed by the People: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's Road to Power in Syria
In December 2024, to global astonishment, former al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led a coalition to overthrow the Syrian regime. This fascinating account unravels HTS's dramatic transformation since 2019, from a besieged insurgent enclave to a conservative Islamist government.
Drawing on interviews with HTS leaders including Ahmad al-Sharaa himself--as well as diplomats, dissidents and opponents--the authors reveal the group's pragmatic evolution while ruling Idlib province, in the face of global and local constraints. They uncover how HTS approached religious minorities, redefined its understanding of sharia, and embraced a non-radical conservative society. HTS reshaped its identity not only in northwest Syria, but on the world stage, aligning with NATO member and secular republic Turkey, confronting both al-Qaeda and Islamic State, and marginalizing die-hards in its own ranks, in favor of a popular, mosque-based Islam.
This book offers a glimpse into HTS's startling journey, blending frontline narratives with sharp analysis to decode the group's success in outmaneuvering the regime and mapping its own path to power.
Drawing on interviews with HTS leaders including Ahmad al-Sharaa himself--as well as diplomats, dissidents and opponents--the authors reveal the group's pragmatic evolution while ruling Idlib province, in the face of global and local constraints. They uncover how HTS approached religious minorities, redefined its understanding of sharia, and embraced a non-radical conservative society. HTS reshaped its identity not only in northwest Syria, but on the world stage, aligning with NATO member and secular republic Turkey, confronting both al-Qaeda and Islamic State, and marginalizing die-hards in its own ranks, in favor of a popular, mosque-based Islam.
This book offers a glimpse into HTS's startling journey, blending frontline narratives with sharp analysis to decode the group's success in outmaneuvering the regime and mapping its own path to power.
- GenresPoliticsNonfiction
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 10, 2025
Absolutely brilliant! Timely, analytically compelling, very well researched. A solid foundation for understanding contemporary politics in Syria with regards to the new authorities and the internal challenges they face. Highly recommended.
January 23, 2026
Transformed by the People offers a detailed, well-researched analysis of HTS’s road to power and the deliberate course of de-radicalization it followed after consolidating control over Idlib province in 2019, culminating in the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. The book is eye-opening and presents a compelling argument that HTS—now exercising authority in Syria—has distanced itself from its radical past and embraced a more pragmatic, moderate approach to both religion and politics. Written by authors with on-the-ground experience in Syria, the analysis is thoughtful, persuasive, and ultimately reassuring.
February 26, 2026
Ahmed Al-Sharaa has been in power in Syria for nearly 1-year. The lightening rebel offensive that brought down five decades of the dictatorial rule of the Assad family, was a shock to many. In Al-Sharaa, Syrian’s were greeted with a new kind of leader, but debates about Syria’s future continue to rage.
For Patrick Haenni and Jerome Drevon, Al-Sharaa won’t turn Syria into a democracy, but Syria’s civil society might turn the Mediterranean country into one. Their new book Transformed By The People: Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham’s Road To Power In Syria tells the story of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham or HTS and Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s rise to power. The research was years in the making and included interviews with Al-Sharaa himself, HTS members, diplomats and opponents of the group; it paints a fascinating picture of the evolution of the movement.
They argue HTS, which was founded in 2016, has undergone four key evolutions. The first is rejection of transnational Jihadism, opposing fighting the West and against imposing a version of Islamic law found in the ideologies of groups like Daesh. The second is rejecting Salafism altogether and reorientating their religious views to fit Syria’s cultural and religious landscape. Thirdly, they outmaneuvered other rebel groups by building alliances with civil society and broader populations at large. Fourthly, the rejection of global Jihadism allowed them to relocalise their politics to fit Syrian society.
The fighting of more extreme groups and moderating religious politics while believing in the values of the 2011 Arab Spring, the authors view HTS as akin to the Thermidorian Reaction against the Jacobin’s Reign of Terror regime in 18th century revolutionary France. What’s interesting about these transformative steps is that some of them emerged as pragmatic accommodations to situations unfolding.
Overtime, these accommodations accumulated and changed into a deeper strategic transformation. However, while there is much talk of pragmatism or opportunism, the book cautions us against reducing our view to this, ‘an opportunist navigates tactically, shifting direction at will. HTS, however, did not simply adapt on a whim.’ The authors point out that despite HTS not issuing a formal doctrinal revision, their political trajectory has followed a very clear path and irreversibly so.
A core contention about HTS’s leader is that he is a former Daesh and Al-Qaeda commander, but Haenni and Drevon argue that this is not so straightforward. After the 2003 US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, Ahmed Al-Sharaa travelled to Iraq to join a group that was a precursor to Daesh, known as the Islamic State in Iraq or ISI. Not long after arriving in Iraq in 2005, he was arrested and held in both Abu Ghraib and Bucca prisons, run by the Americans, for five years. The significance of this is that the extreme sectarian violence and mass killings carried out by ISI occurred after Al-Sharaa was jailed. While being motivated to fight the foreign occupying forces, Al-Sharaa’s views at the time didn’t totally align with ISI.
Al-Sharaa claims that at the time, he was motivated to fight the US invasion, but didn’t fully understand the ideology of ISI and was shocked to learn how extreme their views were. While this would be a convenient thing for him to say now, a letter sent by one of the main leaders of Daesh, Muhammad Al-Adnani, to the Al-Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan in 2011, adds credence to this claim. Al-Adnani was complaining about Al-Sharaa notably his opposition to key beliefs of the group. He was given permission to go back to Syria by ISI and form a new organisation Jabhat Al-Nusra.
But soon after Al-Nusra’s establishment, complaints by Al-Qaeda about Al-Sharaa escalated, alleging that he was trying to sideline them.
Although breaking with ISIS in 2013 and Al-Qaeda in 2016 transformed Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s group and led to the creation of HTS, ultimately it was governance that changed the orientation of the group. After HTS came to dominate the Syrian province of Idlib in 2017, they built alliances with educated and conservative elites, ‘HTS’s dominance over its competitors paradoxically created space for this urban elite to operate, albeit under control.’ These elites included academics, activists, NGO workers and businessmen, all of whom helped build governmental institutions. ‘Businessmen were more interested in rebuilding order and security than driven by ideological affinities. They believed that unifying governance would improve security and limit factional intrusions in their work.’
Transformed By The People is an important intervention into ongoing debates about Syria’s future. It assesses the political trajectory HTS has been on and how changes have unfolded. Crucially, it also shows how susceptible the group can be to popular pressure and the role civil society can play in changing the direction of the group. Although HTS is formally disbanded, the group is the main source of governance in Syria today, alongside other factions, which makes this book an urgent read. It offers detailed, well-thought-out and nuanced analysis of HTS.
For Patrick Haenni and Jerome Drevon, Al-Sharaa won’t turn Syria into a democracy, but Syria’s civil society might turn the Mediterranean country into one. Their new book Transformed By The People: Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham’s Road To Power In Syria tells the story of Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham or HTS and Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s rise to power. The research was years in the making and included interviews with Al-Sharaa himself, HTS members, diplomats and opponents of the group; it paints a fascinating picture of the evolution of the movement.
They argue HTS, which was founded in 2016, has undergone four key evolutions. The first is rejection of transnational Jihadism, opposing fighting the West and against imposing a version of Islamic law found in the ideologies of groups like Daesh. The second is rejecting Salafism altogether and reorientating their religious views to fit Syria’s cultural and religious landscape. Thirdly, they outmaneuvered other rebel groups by building alliances with civil society and broader populations at large. Fourthly, the rejection of global Jihadism allowed them to relocalise their politics to fit Syrian society.
The fighting of more extreme groups and moderating religious politics while believing in the values of the 2011 Arab Spring, the authors view HTS as akin to the Thermidorian Reaction against the Jacobin’s Reign of Terror regime in 18th century revolutionary France. What’s interesting about these transformative steps is that some of them emerged as pragmatic accommodations to situations unfolding.
Overtime, these accommodations accumulated and changed into a deeper strategic transformation. However, while there is much talk of pragmatism or opportunism, the book cautions us against reducing our view to this, ‘an opportunist navigates tactically, shifting direction at will. HTS, however, did not simply adapt on a whim.’ The authors point out that despite HTS not issuing a formal doctrinal revision, their political trajectory has followed a very clear path and irreversibly so.
A core contention about HTS’s leader is that he is a former Daesh and Al-Qaeda commander, but Haenni and Drevon argue that this is not so straightforward. After the 2003 US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, Ahmed Al-Sharaa travelled to Iraq to join a group that was a precursor to Daesh, known as the Islamic State in Iraq or ISI. Not long after arriving in Iraq in 2005, he was arrested and held in both Abu Ghraib and Bucca prisons, run by the Americans, for five years. The significance of this is that the extreme sectarian violence and mass killings carried out by ISI occurred after Al-Sharaa was jailed. While being motivated to fight the foreign occupying forces, Al-Sharaa’s views at the time didn’t totally align with ISI.
Al-Sharaa claims that at the time, he was motivated to fight the US invasion, but didn’t fully understand the ideology of ISI and was shocked to learn how extreme their views were. While this would be a convenient thing for him to say now, a letter sent by one of the main leaders of Daesh, Muhammad Al-Adnani, to the Al-Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan in 2011, adds credence to this claim. Al-Adnani was complaining about Al-Sharaa notably his opposition to key beliefs of the group. He was given permission to go back to Syria by ISI and form a new organisation Jabhat Al-Nusra.
But soon after Al-Nusra’s establishment, complaints by Al-Qaeda about Al-Sharaa escalated, alleging that he was trying to sideline them.
Although breaking with ISIS in 2013 and Al-Qaeda in 2016 transformed Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s group and led to the creation of HTS, ultimately it was governance that changed the orientation of the group. After HTS came to dominate the Syrian province of Idlib in 2017, they built alliances with educated and conservative elites, ‘HTS’s dominance over its competitors paradoxically created space for this urban elite to operate, albeit under control.’ These elites included academics, activists, NGO workers and businessmen, all of whom helped build governmental institutions. ‘Businessmen were more interested in rebuilding order and security than driven by ideological affinities. They believed that unifying governance would improve security and limit factional intrusions in their work.’
Transformed By The People is an important intervention into ongoing debates about Syria’s future. It assesses the political trajectory HTS has been on and how changes have unfolded. Crucially, it also shows how susceptible the group can be to popular pressure and the role civil society can play in changing the direction of the group. Although HTS is formally disbanded, the group is the main source of governance in Syria today, alongside other factions, which makes this book an urgent read. It offers detailed, well-thought-out and nuanced analysis of HTS.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews