Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Positive Response to initiative

• Country/entity

  Syria
  
• Region

  Middle East and North Africa
  
• Agreement name

  Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Positive Response to initiative
• Date

  19 Jul 2017
• Agreement status

  Unilateral document
• Interim arrangement

  Yes
• Agreement/conflict level

  Intrastate/local conflict ( Syrian Conflicts (1948 - ) (1976 - 2005) (2011 - ) )
• Stage

  Ceasefire/related
• Conflict nature

  Inter-group
• Peace process

  Syrian Local Agreements
• Parties

  Harikat Tahrir al-Sham; Harikat Ahrar al-Sham.
• Third parties

  -
• Description

  Statement issued as part of a sequence of statements responding to an initiative to end the ongoing conflict between Harikat Tahrir al-Sham and Harikat Ahrar al-Sham in Idlib. Statement commits to ceasefire in response to focusing energy elsewhere.

• Agreement document

  SY_170719_HTS Positive Response to pre-negotiation agreement_EN.pdf | Download PDF
• Agreement document (original language)

  SY_170719_HTS Positive Response to pre-negotiation agreement_AR.pdf | Download PDF

Local agreement properties

• Process type

  Informal but persistent process
  
• Rationale

  -> Local issues only; no external support mechanism; culture of signing There is no formally established mechanism to support the negotiation between Salafi armed groups. Moreover, this agreement cannot be linked to the national peace process. Indeed, both groups have a Salafist ideology; they 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 choose to solve daily pragmatic issues related to their armed struggle through agreements. Although one cannot speak of a “culture” of singing peace agreements, the parties are involved (in a non-proactive and non-conscious way) in a persistent practice of signing local agreements.
• 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. Yet, the agreement is related to multiple local level processes in Idlib governorate in July 2017. The agreement was signed for the purpose of "preserv[ing] remaining energies and land to fight our enemies."
• Name of Locale

  NA
• Nature Of Locale

  Region
• GPS Lat/Long (DD)

  35.731782, 36.708680
• Participant type

  Local armed group
  
• Mediator, facilitator or similar

  Mediator or similar referred to
  Mediator (references)

  The initiative of the mediation was launched by three clerics: Sheikh Abu Mohammed al-Sadiq, Sheikh Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi, and Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri.
  Type of mediator/facilitator/similar

  Domestic religious organisation/leader or other elder

Local issues

Harikat Tahrir al-Sham Response to Pre-Negotiation Agreement, 19 July 2017

In the name of Allah, the Beneficial, the Merciful

“So fear Allah, and keep straight the relations between yourselves:

Obey Allah and His Messenger, if ye do believe”1

Due to the incidents of killing and blood shed between our brothers in Harikat Ahrar al-Sham and Tahrir al-Sham that grieve the heart and destroy it.

At this critical stage we need to preserve remaining energies and land to fight our enemies. [

Thus], we celebrate and agree to this good initiative which has helped resolve our dispute.

We call on our brothers in Tahrir al-Sham and Harikat Ahrar al-Sham to end the fighting between them, arbitrate [according to] the law of Allah, and respond to the good initiative that has launched a virtuous project.

Tawfiq Shahab al-Din