Agreement between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement

• Country/entity

  Syria
  
• Region

  Middle East and North Africa
  
• Agreement name

  Agreement between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement
• Date

  13 Aug 2017
• Agreement status

  Multiparty signed/agreed
• Interim arrangement

  Yes
• Agreement/conflict level

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

  Pre-negotiation/process
• Conflict nature

  Inter-group
• Peace process

  Syrian Local Agreements
• Parties

  Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)
  Nour al-Din al-Zenki.
  
  Signed by Abu Ibrahim and Salama Ahmed [illegible] (not certain whom signed on behalf of which party).
• Third parties

  -
• Description

  Short statement referring all issues to a legitimate committee, disarming and returning to the previous status quo. No more information is provided.

• Agreement document

  SY_170813_Agreement between HTS and Noureddin Zanki Movement_EN.pdf | Download PDF
• Agreement document (original language)

  SY_170813_Agreement between HTS and Noureddin Zanki Movement_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. The agreement is related to multiple local level processes in Idlib and Aleppo governorates in 2017.
• 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. The agreement stipulates that a joint chamber of operation should be formed to topple the Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Finally, the agreement should be understood in the context of an “intra-religious insurgent groups” conflict where several factions that all oppose Bashar al-Assad engaged in fighting and took some distance from their initial raison d’être in the context of the Syrian civil war.
• Name of Locale

  NA
• Nature Of Locale

  Smaller
• GPS Lat/Long (DD)

  36.260414, 37.092629
• Participant type

  Local armed group
  
• Mediator, facilitator or similar

  No mention of mediator or similar

Local issues

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

With God [illegible] and bounty, the dispute has been resolved between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement.

It was agreed to refer all [related] problems to an agreed upon legitimate committee.

Disarming and returning things to as they were before.

Issue Date:

13/8/2017

Proponents

Abu Ibrahim Salama Ahmed [illegible]

[Signature] [Signature]