128-581: Non-state allies : Non-state opponents Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham ( HTS ; Arabic : هيئة تحرير الشام , romanized : Hayʼat Taḥrīr aš-Šām , lit. ''Organization for the Liberation of the Levant' or 'Levant Liberation Committee''), commonly referred to as Tahrir al-Sham , is a Sunni Islamist political and armed organisation involved in the Syrian Civil War . It
256-654: A Mujahideen Army base in rural Idlib. On 25 January, JFS militants captured the Idlib central prison from the Suqour al-Sham Brigade . By 26 January, Ahrar al-Sham and its allies had captured multiple villages in the northern part of the Jabal Zawiya region from JFS, in a region between Balyin, Kafr Naya , and Maarrat al-Nu'man . On the same day, militants loyal to JFS captured the strategic town of Halfaya from rival opposition forces. The next day, JFS forces attacked
384-433: A US airstrike killed former al-Qaeda commander Abu Hani al-Masri , who was a part of Ahrar al-Sham at the time of his death. It was reported that he was about to defect to Tahrir al-Sham before his death. Around 8 February, Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi confirmed that 2 senior Jabhat Fateh al-Sham leaders loyal to al-Qaeda, including former al-Nusra deputy leader Sami al-Oraydi , left Tahrir al-Sham after its formation. A speech
512-646: A bakery in Atarib , the largest bakery in western Aleppo, but withdrew after protests by residents. Several days later, the Uzbek Jihadist group Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad pledged its allegiance to Tahrir al-Sham. On 7 February 2017, Jund al-Aqsa attacked the headquarters of Jaysh al-Nasr near the town of Murak , in northern Hama. Jund al-Aqsa then captured the town of Kafr Zita and stormed Taybat al-Imam , capturing more than 250 fighters and weapons from Jaysh al-Nasr. On 9 February, Jund al-Aqsa attacked
640-575: A collection of related dialects that constitute the precursor of Arabic, first emerged during the Iron Age . Previously, the earliest attestation of Old Arabic was thought to be a single 1st century CE inscription in Sabaic script at Qaryat al-Faw , in southern present-day Saudi Arabia. However, this inscription does not participate in several of the key innovations of the Arabic language group, such as
768-435: A corpus of poetic texts, in addition to Qur'an usage and Bedouin informants whom he considered to be reliable speakers of the ʿarabiyya . Arabic spread with the spread of Islam . Following the early Muslim conquests , Arabic gained vocabulary from Middle Persian and Turkish . In the early Abbasid period , many Classical Greek terms entered Arabic through translations carried out at Baghdad's House of Wisdom . By
896-1081: A dialect of Arabic and written in the Latin alphabet . The Balkan languages, including Albanian, Greek , Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian , have also acquired many words of Arabic origin, mainly through direct contact with Ottoman Turkish . Arabic has influenced languages across the globe throughout its history, especially languages where Islam is the predominant religion and in countries that were conquered by Muslims. The most markedly influenced languages are Persian , Turkish , Hindustani ( Hindi and Urdu ), Kashmiri , Kurdish , Bosnian , Kazakh , Bengali , Malay ( Indonesian and Malaysian ), Maldivian , Pashto , Punjabi , Albanian , Armenian , Azerbaijani , Sicilian, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian, Tagalog , Sindhi , Odia , Hebrew and African languages such as Hausa , Amharic , Tigrinya , Somali , Tamazight , and Swahili . Conversely, Arabic has borrowed some words (mostly nouns) from other languages, including its sister-language Aramaic, Persian, Greek, and Latin and to
1024-576: A group of armed factions, including Failaq al-Rahman and Jaysh al-Islam , wrote to the UN declaring they were ready to "evacuate" remaining HTS fighters from Eastern Ghouta within 15 days. At the same time in Idlib Governorate, Ahrar al-Sham, Nour al-Din al-Zinki and Soqour al-Sham entered into conflict with HTS , taking significant territory. During late 2017 and early 2018, it co-operated with Turkey in Idlib, leading to deepening tensions between
1152-487: A lesser extent and more recently from Turkish, English, French, and Italian. Arabic is spoken by as many as 380 million speakers, both native and non-native, in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world, and the fourth most used language on the internet in terms of users. It also serves as the liturgical language of more than 2 billion Muslims . In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Arabic
1280-690: A millennium before the modern period . Early lexicographers ( لُغَوِيُّون lughawiyyūn ) sought to explain words in the Quran that were unfamiliar or had a particular contextual meaning, and to identify words of non-Arabic origin that appear in the Quran. They gathered shawāhid ( شَوَاهِد 'instances of attested usage') from poetry and the speech of the Arabs—particularly the Bedouin ʾaʿrāb [ ar ] ( أَعْراب ) who were perceived to speak
1408-534: A new body. During its foundation declaration, Emir Abu Jaber Shaykh described the Levant Liberation Committee as "an independent entity" free from all the previous relations and allegiances by virtue of the unification. According to Syria analyst Charles Lister, Ahrar al-Sham lost some 800–1,000 defectors to HTS, but gained at least 6,000-8,000 more from the merger into its ranks of Suqor al-Sham , Jaish al-Mujahideen , Fastaqim Union and
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#17327934165231536-596: A potential withdraw the Syrian opposition and Liwa Aqsa engaged in talks. Still, on the next day, HTS captured the village of Heish from Jund al-Aqsa, and then besieged the retreating Jund al-Aqsa forces in Khan Shaykhun and Murak . The Turkistan Islamic Party and Tahrir al-Sham surrounded Liwa Al-Aqsa in Mourak and Khan Shaykhoun. Turkistan Islamic Party and Liwa al-Aqsa negotiated an agreement. On 19 February, it
1664-594: A result, many European languages have borrowed words from it. Arabic influence, mainly in vocabulary, is seen in European languages (mainly Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese , Catalan , and Sicilian ) owing to the proximity of Europe and the long-lasting Arabic cultural and linguistic presence, mainly in Southern Iberia, during the Al-Andalus era. Maltese is a Semitic language developed from
1792-462: A script derived from ASA attest to a language known as Hasaitic . On the northwestern frontier of Arabia, various languages known to scholars as Thamudic B , Thamudic D, Safaitic , and Hismaic are attested. The last two share important isoglosses with later forms of Arabic, leading scholars to theorize that Safaitic and Hismaic are early forms of Arabic and that they should be considered Old Arabic . Linguists generally believe that "Old Arabic",
1920-416: A shrine frequented by Shi'ite pilgrims and militiamen. In a statement released the following day, Tahrir al-Sham stated that the attacks targeted Iran -backed militants fight on behalf of Bashar al-Assad and condemned Khomeinist militants for ""killing and displacing" Syrians. From September to November 2017, there were a series of assassinations of HTS leaders, in particular foreign clerics associated with
2048-470: A single language, despite mutual incomprehensibility among differing spoken versions. From a linguistic standpoint, it is often said that the various spoken varieties of Arabic differ among each other collectively about as much as the Romance languages . This is an apt comparison in a number of ways. The period of divergence from a single spoken form is similar—perhaps 1500 years for Arabic, 2000 years for
2176-701: A stable civilian administration that provides services and connects to humanitarian organizations in addition to maintaining law and order. Tahrir al-Sham's strategy is based on expanding its territorial control in Syria, establishing governance and mobilising popular support. In 2017, HTS permitted Turkish troops to patrol North-West Syria as part of a ceasefire brokered through the Astana negotiations . Its policies have brought it into conflict with Hurras al-Deen , Al-Qaeda's Syrian wing. HTS had an estimated 6,000-15,000 members in 2022. Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham gives allegiance to
2304-552: A total of 12,000 fighters. In February 2018, Tahrir al-Sham was accused of killing Fayez al-Madani, an opposition delegate tasked with negotiations with the government over electricity delivery in the northern Homs Governorate , in the city of al-Rastan . Hundreds of people, including fighters of the Men of God Brigade, part of the Free Syrian Army 's National Liberation Movement group, proceeded to demonstrate against HTS in
2432-440: A total of 16,000 HTS fighters. On 31 August, Turkey declared HTS a terrorist organization. In the summer of 2018, HTS strengthened its crackdown campaign against cells affiliated with IS organization in Idlib and Hama regions. In January 2019, HTS was able to seize dozens of villages from rivals, and afterwards, a deal was reached in which the civil administration was to be led by HTS in the whole rebel-held Idlib Governorate. In
2560-507: A type of Arabic. Cypriot Arabic is recognized as a minority language in Cyprus. The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia , which is the normal use of two separate varieties of the same language, usually in different social situations. Tawleed is the process of giving a new shade of meaning to an old classical word. For example, al-hatif lexicographically means
2688-507: A variety of regional vernacular Arabic dialects , which are not necessarily mutually intelligible. Classical Arabic is the language found in the Quran , used from the period of Pre-Islamic Arabia to that of the Abbasid Caliphate . Classical Arabic is prescriptive, according to the syntactic and grammatical norms laid down by classical grammarians (such as Sibawayh ) and the vocabulary defined in classical dictionaries (such as
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#17327934165232816-476: A wider audience." In the wake of the industrial revolution and European hegemony and colonialism , pioneering Arabic presses, such as the Amiri Press established by Muhammad Ali (1819), dramatically changed the diffusion and consumption of Arabic literature and publications. Rifa'a al-Tahtawi proposed the establishment of Madrasat al-Alsun in 1836 and led a translation campaign that highlighted
2944-737: Is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world . The ISO assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic , including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic , which is derived from Classical Arabic . This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā ( اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ "the eloquent Arabic") or simply al-fuṣḥā ( اَلْفُصْحَىٰ ). Arabic
3072-590: Is a minimum level of comprehension between all Arabic dialects, this level can increase or decrease based on geographic proximity: for example, Levantine and Gulf speakers understand each other much better than they do speakers from the Maghreb. The issue of diglossia between spoken and written language is a complicating factor: A single written form, differing sharply from any of the spoken varieties learned natively, unites several sometimes divergent spoken forms. For political reasons, Arabs mostly assert that they all speak
3200-559: Is a sister language rather than their direct ancestor. Arabia had a wide variety of Semitic languages in antiquity. The term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living in the Arabian Peninsula , as perceived by geographers from ancient Greece . In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside the Ancient South Arabian family (e.g. Southern Thamudic) were spoken. It
3328-478: Is believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages (non-Central Semitic languages) were spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hejaz , Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages. In Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested. In eastern Arabia, inscriptions in
3456-408: Is credited with establishing the rules of Arabic prosody . Al-Jahiz (776–868) proposed to Al-Akhfash al-Akbar an overhaul of the grammar of Arabic, but it would not come to pass for two centuries. The standardization of Arabic reached completion around the end of the 8th century. The first comprehensive description of the ʿarabiyya "Arabic", Sībawayhi's al - Kitāb , is based first of all upon
3584-472: Is credited with standardizing Arabic grammar , or an-naḥw ( النَّحو "the way" ), and pioneering a system of diacritics to differentiate consonants ( نقط الإعجام nuqaṭu‿l-i'jām "pointing for non-Arabs") and indicate vocalization ( التشكيل at-tashkīl ). Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (718–786) compiled the first Arabic dictionary, Kitāb al-'Ayn ( كتاب العين "The Book of the Letter ع "), and
3712-456: Is likely to consolidate power in northwestern Syria against rival opposition groups, most prominently Ahrar al-Sham. On 30 January, there were reports of mobilizations by Tahrir al-Sham and Ahrar ash-Sham at the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing and other nearby areas, and that the 2 groups were preparing for another round of clashes. On 2 February, Tahrir al-Sham's former JFS forces attempted to occupy
3840-574: Is not present in the spoken varieties, but deletes Classical words that sound obsolete in MSA. In addition, MSA has borrowed or coined many terms for concepts that did not exist in Quranic times, and MSA continues to evolve. Some words have been borrowed from other languages—notice that transliteration mainly indicates spelling and not real pronunciation (e.g., فِلْم film 'film' or ديمقراطية dīmuqrāṭiyyah 'democracy'). The current preference
3968-855: Is official in Mali and recognized as a minority language in Morocco, while the Senegalese government adopted the Latin script to write it. Maltese is official in (predominantly Catholic ) Malta and written with the Latin script . Linguists agree that it is a variety of spoken Arabic, descended from Siculo-Arabic , though it has experienced extensive changes as a result of sustained and intensive contact with Italo-Romance varieties, and more recently also with English. Due to "a mix of social, cultural, historical, political, and indeed linguistic factors", many Maltese people today consider their language Semitic but not
Tahrir al-Sham - Misplaced Pages Continue
4096-572: Is the third most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations , and the liturgical language of Islam . Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the world and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, governments and the media. During the Middle Ages , Arabic was a major vehicle of culture and learning, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy. As
4224-590: Is the variety used in most current, printed Arabic publications, spoken by some of the Arabic media across North Africa and the Middle East, and understood by most educated Arabic speakers. "Literary Arabic" and "Standard Arabic" ( فُصْحَى fuṣḥá ) are less strictly defined terms that may refer to Modern Standard Arabic or Classical Arabic. Some of the differences between Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) are as follows: MSA uses much Classical vocabulary (e.g., dhahaba 'to go') that
4352-413: Is to avoid direct borrowings, preferring to either use loan translations (e.g., فرع farʻ 'branch', also used for the branch of a company or organization; جناح janāḥ 'wing', is also used for the wing of an airplane, building, air force, etc.), or to coin new words using forms within existing roots ( استماتة istimātah ' apoptosis ', using the root موت m/w/t 'death' put into
4480-524: Is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the industrial and post-industrial era , especially in modern times. Due to its grounding in Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic is removed over a millennium from everyday speech, which is construed as a multitude of dialects of this language. These dialects and Modern Standard Arabic are described by some scholars as not mutually comprehensible. The former are usually acquired in families, while
4608-445: The Lisān al-ʻArab ). Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) largely follows the grammatical standards of Classical Arabic and uses much of the same vocabulary. However, it has discarded some grammatical constructions and vocabulary that no longer have any counterpart in the spoken varieties and has adopted certain new constructions and vocabulary from the spoken varieties. Much of the new vocabulary
4736-663: The Combating Terrorism Center reported that Jabhat Fateh al-Sham had formed the Tahrir al-Sham group due to its fear of being isolated, and to counter Ahrar al-Sham's recent expansion during the clashes in the Idlib Province. On 22 February, the last of Liwa al-Asqa's 2,100 militants left their final positions in Khan Shaykhun , with unconfirmed reports in pro-government media that they were to join ISIL in
4864-748: The Hazzm Movement . On 22 February, the last of Liwa al-Aqsa's 2,100 militants left their final positions in Khan Skaykhun, to join ISIL in Ar-Raqqah province, after a negotiated withdrawal deal with Tahrir al-Sham and the Turkistan Islamic Party. Armored vehicles, tanks, and heavy weapons were all burned by Liwa al-Aqsa during their withdrawal. Afterward, Tahrir al-Sham declared the termination Liwa al-Aqsa, and promised to watch for any remaining cells. On 23 February,
4992-574: The Institute for the Study of War reported that the commander killed was Sheikh Abu al-Abbas al-Suri. On 24 March, two flatbed trucks carrying flour and belonging to an IHH -affiliated Turkish relief organization were stopped at a HTS checkpoint at the entrance to Sarmada . HTS then seized the trucks and the flour, which was intended for a bakery in Saraqib . The seizure caused 2,000 families in
5120-479: The Jabal Zawiya region, after Tahrir al-Sham attempted to arrest a senior Ahrar al-Sham leader in the area. During the infighting, CIA military aid was frozen, due to the Islamist attacks on FSA groups in the Idlib Governorate. Salaries, training, and ammunition were halted, due to fears of falling into Islamist hands. On 10 March 2017, United States labeled the Tahrir a terrorist organization , although in
5248-648: The Raqqa Governorate , across a Syrian government supply route to Aleppo, stretching from Ithriyah to Salamiyah , in order to escape the rebel infighting. However, they were ambushed by the National Defence Forces , resulting in several deaths, with rest of the militants surrendering themselves. On the same day, Tahir al-Sham stormed Jaysh al-Islam positions near the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing and captured heavy weapons. HTS also occupied several abandoned warehouses formerly belonging to
Tahrir al-Sham - Misplaced Pages Continue
5376-558: The Sham Legion split into three armed groups, while fighting erupted in town of Saraqib , after a brigade in Ahrar al-Sham defected to Tahrir al-Sham. The former Ahrar al-Sham brigade had been responsible for manufacturing and maintaining Ahrar al-Sham's weapons, according to pro-government sources. On 3 March, according to pro-government sources, the clashes escalated, with clashes erupting between Ahrar al-Sham and Tahrir al-Sham in
5504-653: The Sham Legion were killed and 2 wounded after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb . From 6 to 8 June, clashes broke out between Tahrir al-Sham and Sham Legion in Maarrat al-Nu'man . The Free Idlib Army's 13th Division and the Free Police joined the fighting on 8 June. By the evening of 8 June, HTS captured both the 13th Division and the Sham Legion's headquarters in Maarat al-Nu'man and killed Col. Tayser al-Samahi,
5632-778: The Syrian Interim Government held territories. After achieving stability in Idlib in 2021, HTS launched the policy of repatriating confiscated properties of minorities in North-West Syria. These also included the re-building of destroyed churches in Idlib. HTS commanders and SSG officials have since initiated regular meetings to engage with priests and representatives the Christian community in Idlib . The Washington Post reported in January 2022 that
5760-599: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), local residents and local officials have said that the building struck was a mosque filled with worshipers, which was subsequently confirmed by Bellingcat . On the morning of 21 March, according to pro-government media, a US drone strike in Darkush , Idlib Province, killed Abu Islam al-Masri, described as an Egyptian high-ranking HTS commander, and Abu al-'Abbas al-Darir, described as an Egyptian HTS commander; however,
5888-849: The Syrian Salvation Government , which is an alternative government of the Syrian opposition in the Idlib Governorate . While the organisation officially adheres to the Salafi school; the High Council of Fatwa of the Syrian Salvation Government - to which it is religiously beholden - consists of ulema from Ash'arite and Sufi traditions as well. In its legal system and educational curriculum, HTS implements Shafi'ite thought and teaches
6016-594: The Turkish military against the Assad regime . On 1 March 2021 it was reported that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham intensified its campaign against al-Qaeda affiliate Hurras al-Din in Idlib. Since 2021, HTS has started implementing various reconstruction projects in areas under its control, with a focus on establishing civil institutions in opposition-held territories. These included the Bab al-Hawa Industrial City project and re-opening of al-Ghazawiya crossing point to connect with
6144-568: The Xth form , or جامعة jāmiʻah 'university', based on جمع jamaʻa 'to gather, unite'; جمهورية jumhūriyyah 'republic', based on جمهور jumhūr 'multitude'). An earlier tendency was to redefine an older word although this has fallen into disuse (e.g., هاتف hātif 'telephone' < 'invisible caller (in Sufism)'; جريدة jarīdah 'newspaper' < 'palm-leaf stalk'). Colloquial or dialectal Arabic refers to
6272-568: The al-Qaeda -aligned Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (which disbanded in 28 January and joined Tahrir al-Sham ) and their allies on the other. After 7 February, the clashes also included Jund al-Aqsa as a third belligerent, which had re-branded itself as Liwa al-Aqsa and was attacking the other combatants. The battles were fought in the Idlib Governorate and the western countryside of the Aleppo Governorate . In October 2016, major clashes erupted between Ahrar al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa in
6400-494: The northern Hejaz . These features are evidence of common descent from a hypothetical ancestor , Proto-Arabic . The following features of Proto-Arabic can be reconstructed with confidence: On the other hand, several Arabic varieties are closer to other Semitic languages and maintain features not found in Classical Arabic, indicating that these varieties cannot have developed from Classical Arabic. Thus, Arabic vernaculars do not descend from Classical Arabic: Classical Arabic
6528-419: The "learned" tradition (Classical Arabic). This variety and both its classicizing and "lay" iterations have been termed Middle Arabic in the past, but they are thought to continue an Old Higazi register. It is clear that the orthography of the Quran was not developed for the standardized form of Classical Arabic; rather, it shows the attempt on the part of writers to record an archaic form of Old Higazi. In
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#17327934165236656-1280: The "purest," most eloquent form of Arabic—initiating a process of jamʿu‿l-luɣah ( جمع اللغة 'compiling the language') which took place over the 8th and early 9th centuries. Kitāb al-'Ayn ( c. 8th century ), attributed to Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi , is considered the first lexicon to include all Arabic roots ; it sought to exhaust all possible root permutations —later called taqālīb ( تقاليب ) — calling those that are actually used mustaʿmal ( مستعمَل ) and those that are not used muhmal ( مُهمَل ). Lisān al-ʿArab (1290) by Ibn Manzur gives 9,273 roots, while Tāj al-ʿArūs (1774) by Murtada az-Zabidi gives 11,978 roots. Idlib Governorate clashes (January%E2%80%93March 2017) HTS victory over Liwa al-Aqsa and FSA groups [REDACTED] Ahrar al-Sham [REDACTED] Suqour al-Sham Brigade (part of AAS since 26 January) [REDACTED] Sham Legion (splintered into 3 groups as of 2 March) [REDACTED] Jaysh al-Islam (some members joined AAS on 26 January) [REDACTED] Ajnad al-Sham [REDACTED] Saraya al-Ghuraba [REDACTED] Tahrir al-Sham [REDACTED] Turkistan Islamic Party [REDACTED] Islamic State of Iraq and
6784-454: The 11th and 12th centuries in al-Andalus , the zajal and muwashah poetry forms developed in the dialectical Arabic of Cordoba and the Maghreb. The Nahda was a cultural and especially literary renaissance of the 19th century in which writers sought "to fuse Arabic and European forms of expression." According to James L. Gelvin , " Nahda writers attempted to simplify the Arabic language and script so that it might be accessible to
6912-519: The 4th to the 6th centuries, the Nabataean script evolved into the Arabic script recognizable from the early Islamic era. There are inscriptions in an undotted, 17-letter Arabic script dating to the 6th century CE, found at four locations in Syria ( Zabad , Jebel Usays , Harran , Umm el-Jimal ). The oldest surviving papyrus in Arabic dates to 643 CE, and it uses dots to produce the modern 28-letter Arabic alphabet. The language of that papyrus and of
7040-834: The 8th century, knowledge of Classical Arabic had become an essential prerequisite for rising into the higher classes throughout the Islamic world, both for Muslims and non-Muslims. For example, Maimonides , the Andalusi Jewish philosopher, authored works in Judeo-Arabic —Arabic written in Hebrew script . Ibn Jinni of Mosul , a pioneer in phonology , wrote prolifically in the 10th century on Arabic morphology and phonology in works such as Kitāb Al-Munṣif , Kitāb Al-Muḥtasab , and Kitāb Al-Khaṣāʾiṣ [ ar ] . Ibn Mada' of Cordoba (1116–1196) realized
7168-670: The Ar-Raqqah Province after a negotiated withdrawal deal with Tahrir al-Sham and the Turkistan Islamic Party. Afterward, Tahrir al-Sham declared terminating Liwa al-Aqsa, and promised to watch for any remaining cells. On 26 February, a US airstrike in Al-Mastoumeh, Idlib Province, killed Abu Khayr al-Masri , who was the deputy leader of al-Qaeda. The airstrike also killed another Tahrir al-Sham militant. Abu Khayr's death left HTS freer to move away from al-Qaeda's any remaining influence. In early March 2017, local residents in
7296-739: The Bunyan al-Marsous Operations Room, of which Tahrir al-Sham was a member, launched an offensive against the Syrian Army in Daraa 's Manshiyah district. Tahrir al-Sham forces reportedly began the attack with 2 suicide bombers and car bombs . On 13 February, clashes erupted between the previously allied Tahrir al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa , also called Liwa al-Aqsa, in northern Hama and southern Idlib. On 15 February, Ahrar al-Sham published an infographic on its recent defections, claiming that only 955 fighters had defected to Tahrir al-Sham. On 22 February,
7424-438: The Free Idlib Army, came under fire from Tahrir al-Sham fighters at a checkpoint near Khan al-Subul, which was under complete control of HTS. Al-Samahi and another FSA fighter was killed in the shootout, while al-Saud was wounded and was transferred to Turkey for treatment. On 29 May, Ahrar al-Sham reportedly executed at least 6 fighters of Tahrir al-Sham after capturing them in southern Idlib province. On 4 June, 5 fighters of
7552-444: The High Command also has representation from other groups. The Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement split from Tahrir al-Sham in July 2017, and the Ansar al-Din Front in 2018. The formation of HTS was followed by a string of assassinations of its supporters. In response, HTS launched a successful crackdown on Al-Qaeda loyalists, which cemented its power in Idlib . HTS has since been pursuing a "Syrianization" programme; focused on establishing
7680-468: The Homs attack, stating that it was a message for the "defeatist politicians" to "step aside." It has been disputed that the raid resulted in the death of Ibrahim Darwish. On 11 March 2017, Tahrir al-Sham carried out a twin bombing attack in the Bab al-Saghir area of Damascus's Old City, killing 76 and wounding 120. The death toll included 43 Iraqi pilgrims, whom HTS claimed were "Iranian militias" supporting Assad regime 's dictatorship. The attacks were at
7808-415: The Idlib Province who supported FSA factions accused Tahrir al-Sham of doing more harm than good, saying that all they've done is "kidnap people, set up checkpoints, and terrorize residents." On 16 March, a US airstrike struck the village of al-Jinah, just southwest of Atarib , killing at least 29 and possibly over 50 civilians; the US claimed the people targeted in the strike were "al-Qaeda militants" but
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#17327934165237936-456: The Idlib province. This resulted in most of Jund al-Aqsa pledging allegiance to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (JFS) on 13 October 2016. Sporadic clashes continued for the next few months. Another reason for the recent attacks by JFS were airstrikes conducted by the United States Air Force earlier in January, which killed more than 100 Jihadists belonging to the group. Fatah al-Sham accused rival opposition groups of providing targeting information to
8064-417: The JFS and Al-Qaeda loyalists of Al-Nusra Front , before the JFS - Ahrar al-Sham merger to form Tahrir al-Sham (Syrian Liberation Committee) in January 28. Soon after the merger, Emir Abu Jaber Shaykh announced a ceasefire deal to unite all opposition militia factions into a central command. Some Turkish-backed FSA supporters pejoritavely named the newly formed organization "Hetish". The formation of HTS
8192-1201: The Levant [REDACTED] Abu Ammar al-Omar ( Ahrar al-Sham general commander ) [REDACTED] Rawad al-Khalifa † ( Ahrar al-Sham commander ) [REDACTED] Lt. Col. Muhammad Bakr ( Army of Mujahideen commander, resigned ) [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Capt. Tariq Jadou [REDACTED] ( Army of Victory military commander ) [REDACTED] [REDACTED] 1st Lt. Mohammed Dukhan [REDACTED] ( Army of Victory commander ) [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Lt. Col. Ammar Dayoub [REDACTED] ( Free Idlib Army commander ) [REDACTED] Mustafa Abu al-Hadid [REDACTED] ( Central Division commander ) [REDACTED] Saddam al-Mohammed [REDACTED] ( FSA commander ) [REDACTED] Eagle Abu Qusay Hussein Khalil [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Ahrar al-Sham [REDACTED] Free Syrian Army Foreign intervention in behalf of Syrian rebels U.S.-led intervention against ISIL The Idlib Governorate clashes (January–March 2017) , were military confrontations between Syrian rebel factions led by Ahrar al-Sham and their allies on one side and
8320-412: The Middle East and North Africa have become a badge of sophistication and modernity and ... feigning, or asserting, weakness or lack of facility in Arabic is sometimes paraded as a sign of status, class, and perversely, even education through a mélange of code-switching practises." Arabic has been taught worldwide in many elementary and secondary schools, especially Muslim schools. Universities around
8448-562: The Northern Brigade's Commandos of Islam Brigade reportedly joined Tahrir al-Sham, although Captain Kuja, leader of the unit, stated that he is still part of the Northern Brigade. During 18–23 July, HTS launched a series of attacks on Ahrar al-Sham positions, which were quickly abandoned. On 20 July 2017, the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement led by Sheikh Tawfiq Shahabuddin announced its withdrawal from Tahrir al-Sham amid widespread conflict between HTS and Ahrar al-Sham, and became an independent Islamist group. On 23 July 2017, Tahrir al-Sham expelled
8576-474: The Qur'an is referred to by linguists as "Quranic Arabic", as distinct from its codification soon thereafter into " Classical Arabic ". In late pre-Islamic times, a transdialectal and transcommunal variety of Arabic emerged in the Hejaz , which continued living its parallel life after literary Arabic had been institutionally standardized in the 2nd and 3rd century of the Hijra , most strongly in Judeo-Christian texts, keeping alive ancient features eliminated from
8704-413: The Romance languages. Also, while it is comprehensible to people from the Maghreb , a linguistically innovative variety such as Moroccan Arabic is essentially incomprehensible to Arabs from the Mashriq , much as French is incomprehensible to Spanish or Italian speakers but relatively easily learned by them. This suggests that the spoken varieties may linguistically be considered separate languages. With
8832-476: The U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary Defense Michael Mulroy stated that "Idlib is essentially the largest collection of al Qaeda affiliates in the world." On July 10–11, 57 pro-government fighters were killed when Tahrir al-Sham militants attacked Syrian positions near the fortified village of Hamamiyat. 44 militants were also killed. HTS successfully defended Idlib from 2019 to 2020 government offensives. During this period, HTS cemented its security partnership with
8960-401: The United States. In a statement released by Fatah al-Sham, the group claimed its attacks were to "prevent conspiracies" against them. One of the rebel groups involved in the conflict, the Army of Mujahideen , is a party to the peace talks in Astana , Kazakhstan . Representatives from Jaysh al-Islam and the Sham Legion , along with 13 more factions are also involved. Ahrar al-Sham, on
9088-476: The area to be cut off from a free supply of bread . In April 2017, Jaysh al-Islam attacked HTS and expelled it from the territories under its control in Eastern Ghouta. On 3 May, HTS arrested Suhail Muhammad Hamoud , "Abu TOW ", a former FSA fighter, in a house raid in Idlib. Earlier, al-Hamoud had published a photograph of him smoking in front of a HTS billboard that prohibited smoking . According to reports from pro-government Al-Masdar news , on 20 May,
9216-540: The area. In response to these attacks, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad increased the number of troops garrisoned near Idlib, which some have argued is an impending renewed offensive in the region, following the Northwestern Syria Campaign , where pro-government forces retook the formerly rebel-controlled Abu al-Duhur Military Airbase that was captured by the FSA and Army of Conquest in 2015. In 2019,
9344-524: The brother of Col. Ali al-Samahi and the head of the Free Police in the town. Ahrar al-Sham reportedly deployed fighters to the town during the fighting. On 9 June, Tahrir al-Sham announced the completion of their operations against the FSA and took full control of the town. Later that day, a ceasefire agreement was signed between the Free Idlib Army and Tahrir al-Sham in the town and the latter ordered
9472-488: The city of Salqin . On 6 March, according to pro-government sources, Tahrir al-Sham attacked Ahrar al-Sham inside of Al-Mastoumeh and Kafr Yahmoul, to the south of Idlib, and captured several checkpoints inside of those villages, severing the main Idlib-Ariha road. On 7 March, according to pro-government sources, three Tahrir al-Sham fighters died when their vehicle hit an IED in the eastern Hama province; one of
9600-473: The city on 13 February. In response, HTS withdrew from Rastan and handed over its headquarters in the city to the Men of God Brigade. Meanwhile, Al-Qaeda loyalists formed the anti-HTS Guardians of Religion Organization (Hurras al-Din) in February 2018, establishing it as the successor group of Al-Nusra Front . HTS was left excluded of the 24 February ceasefire agreement on Eastern Ghouta. In late February,
9728-420: The clashes resulted in the deaths of almost 70 fighters on both sides. At least 17 of those killed were Jund al-Aqsa fighters, Abu Bakr Tamanna, who led a group of suicide bombers for JFS during the rebel the attempt to break the siege of Aleppo , at the 3000 apartments, was killed by Liwa al-Aqsa. During the fighting, Kafers Jonah village was captured by Liwa al-Aqsa after its general security leader Abu Rihana
9856-574: The conversion of Semitic mimation to nunation in the singular. It is best reassessed as a separate language on the Central Semitic dialect continuum. It was also thought that Old Arabic coexisted alongside—and then gradually displaced— epigraphic Ancient North Arabian (ANA), which was theorized to have been the regional tongue for many centuries. ANA, despite its name, was considered a very distinct language, and mutually unintelligible, from "Arabic". Scholars named its variant dialects after
9984-587: The emergence of Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include: There are several features which Classical Arabic, the modern Arabic varieties, as well as the Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions share which are unattested in any other Central Semitic language variety, including the Dadanitic and Taymanitic languages of
10112-728: The eve of the conquests: Northern and Central (Al-Jallad 2009). The modern dialects emerged from a new contact situation produced following the conquests. Instead of the emergence of a single or multiple koines, the dialects contain several sedimentary layers of borrowed and areal features, which they absorbed at different points in their linguistic histories. According to Veersteegh and Bickerton, colloquial Arabic dialects arose from pidginized Arabic formed from contact between Arabs and conquered peoples. Pidginization and subsequent creolization among Arabs and arabized peoples could explain relative morphological and phonological simplicity of vernacular Arabic compared to Classical and MSA. In around
10240-460: The event as part of "a comprehensive plan.. to achieve development and progress for the region". In August 2022, HTS ideologue Abu Maria al-Qahtani issued a statement demanding the dissolution of Al-Qaeda and urged all AQ branches to cut ties from the organization. In 2022, HTS took a significant amount of territory and several key settlements during the October 2022 Aleppo clashes . In 2023, it
10368-607: The fact that they participate in the innovations common to all forms of Arabic. The earliest attestation of continuous Arabic text in an ancestor of the modern Arabic script are three lines of poetry by a man named Garm(')allāhe found in En Avdat, Israel , and dated to around 125 CE. This is followed by the Namara inscription , an epitaph of the Lakhmid king Imru' al-Qays bar 'Amro, dating to 328 CE, found at Namaraa, Syria. From
10496-419: The fighters was reportedly as young as 14 years old. Later that day, according to pro-government sources, Tahrir al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham signed a ceasefire deal to end the fighting between them, and to create a new council to resolve their issues diplomatically instead of fighting. However, two days later, according to pro-government sources, clashes broke out between Ahrar al-Sham and Tahrir al-Sham again in
10624-425: The focus of attempts to unify Islamist rebel elements. He led a more Islamist and less nationalist faction within Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Ahrar , which supported merger of Ahrar al-Sham with JFS. There were merger talks in late 2016, but these broke down. In early 2017 it clashed with rival Islamist groups in Idlib, in particular Ahrar al-Sham, but Jaish al-Ahrar detached itself from Ahrar al-Sham to merge with JFS in
10752-510: The fourth most useful language for business, after English, Mandarin Chinese , and French. Arabic is written with the Arabic alphabet , an abjad script that is written from right to left . Arabic is usually classified as a Central Semitic language . Linguists still differ as to the best classification of Semitic language sub-groups. The Semitic languages changed between Proto-Semitic and
10880-543: The group was "trying to convince Syrians and the world that it is no longer as radical and repressive as it once was", voicing rhetoric about combating extremism, and shifting its focus to providing services to the refugees and residents of Idlib province through the Salvation Government. In 7 January, Abu Muhammad al-Joulani announced the inauguration of the Aleppo-Bab al-Hawa International Road, presenting
11008-450: The headquarters of Ajnad al-Sham , Saraya al-Ghuraba, Liwa al-Maghawir and several other rebel units around Kafr Zita and in other areas in the northern Hama countryside, expanding its influence and capturing weapons, supplies and vehicles. By then, Jund al-Aqsa had taken full control of 17 towns and villages overall. During the afternoon of 11 February, local civilians expelled Islamist rebels of Ahrar al-Sham and Jaysh al-Nasr from
11136-578: The headquarters of Jaysh al-Islam in northern Idlib. By 27 January, it was reported that JFS had lost over 35 fighters in the clashes with other rebel groups. During the clashes, it was reported that civilians gathered near settlements caught in the conflict and protested against Fatah al-Sham's attacks on rival opposition forces, and called on the conflict to end in order to save civilian lives. On 28 January, JFS disbanded and merged with several other Islamist groups and formed Tahrir al-Sham (Levant Liberation Body). The overall mission for this new front
11264-573: The headquarters of the Army of Mujahideen in western Aleppo. They also proceeded to attack the Levant Front in Haritan . By 24 January, the Army of Mujahideen joined Ahrar al-Sham after its defeat by JFS. Ahrar al-Sham then deployed several military convoys to the countryside of Idlib and western Aleppo in order to deter attacks by JFS. Meanwhile, the Sham Legion repelled a JFS attack against
11392-469: The hostility between Turkey and HTS in Idlib, or by supporters of Jolani's attempt to turn the organization away from hardline Salafi-jihadi positions. There were also high-profile defections from HTS in the same period, including Abdullah al-Muhaysini and Muslah al-Alyani . In December, HTS arrested several prominent jihadi activists, former members of al-Nusra who remained loyal to al-Qaeda and rejected HTS's turn away from Salafi-jihadist positions. The move
11520-477: The importance of the four classical Sunni madhahib (schools of law) in Islamic jurisprudence . As of 2021, HTS is considered the most powerful military faction within the Syrian opposition . Al-Nusra/JFS co-operated with Ahrar al-Sham for much of 2015–16. Leading Ahrar al-Sham cleric Abu Jaber had long criticized al-Nusra's affiliation to al-Qaeda as setting back the cause of the rebels, and had also been
11648-597: The inclusion of new words into their published standard dictionaries. They also publish old and historical Arabic manuscripts. In 1997, a bureau of Arabization standardization was added to the Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization of the Arab League . These academies and organizations have worked toward the Arabization of the sciences, creating terms in Arabic to describe new concepts, toward
11776-613: The language. Software and books with tapes are an important part of Arabic learning, as many of Arabic learners may live in places where there are no academic or Arabic language school classes available. Radio series of Arabic language classes are also provided from some radio stations. A number of websites on the Internet provide online classes for all levels as a means of distance education; most teach Modern Standard Arabic, but some teach regional varieties from numerous countries. The tradition of Arabic lexicography extended for about
11904-604: The late 6th century AD, a relatively uniform intertribal "poetic koine" distinct from the spoken vernaculars developed based on the Bedouin dialects of Najd , probably in connection with the court of al-Ḥīra . During the first Islamic century, the majority of Arabic poets and Arabic-writing persons spoke Arabic as their mother tongue. Their texts, although mainly preserved in far later manuscripts, contain traces of non-standardized Classical Arabic elements in morphology and syntax. Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali ( c. 603 –689)
12032-420: The latter is taught in formal education settings. However, there have been studies reporting some degree of comprehension of stories told in the standard variety among preschool-aged children. The relation between Modern Standard Arabic and these dialects is sometimes compared to that of Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin vernaculars (which became Romance languages ) in medieval and early modern Europe. MSA
12160-595: The life of the blessed revolution", Abu Jaber urged all factions of the Syrian opposition to unite under its Islamic leadership and wage a "popular Jihad " to achieve the objectives of the Syrian revolution , which he characterised as the ouster of the Ba'athist regime and Hezbollah militants from Syrian territories , and the formation of an Islamic government . After the announcement, additional groups and individuals joined. The merged group has been primarily led by Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and former Ahrar al-Sham leaders, although
12288-669: The main faction of the Abu Amara Battalions joined Tahrir al-Sham, which "now boasts a fighting force of some 50,000 militants" according to one pro-government media source. However, the covert operations unit of the Abu Amara Battalions based in Aleppo remained independent. On 29 May, Tahrir al-Sham arrested opposition activist and FSA commander Abdul Baset al-Sarout after accusing him of participating in an anti-HTS protest in Maarat al-Nu'man . On 2 June 2017, defectors from
12416-883: The many national or regional varieties which constitute the everyday spoken language. Colloquial Arabic has many regional variants; geographically distant varieties usually differ enough to be mutually unintelligible , and some linguists consider them distinct languages. However, research indicates a high degree of mutual intelligibility between closely related Arabic variants for native speakers listening to words, sentences, and texts; and between more distantly related dialects in interactional situations. The varieties are typically unwritten. They are often used in informal spoken media, such as soap operas and talk shows , as well as occasionally in certain forms of written media such as poetry and printed advertising. Hassaniya Arabic , Maltese , and Cypriot Arabic are only varieties of modern Arabic to have acquired official recognition. Hassaniya
12544-454: The more pragmatic leadership and more hardline (especially foreign fighters) elements hostile to working with Turkey. Some of the latter split in February 2018 to form Huras al-Din . The HTS leadership also cracked down on remaining ISIS splinter cells active in Idlib. By August, when HTS entered into (unsuccessful) negotiations with Russia and Turkey, HTS was estimated to have around 3,000–4,000 foreign fighters, including non-Syrian Arabs, out of
12672-404: The most hardline elements, such as Abu Talha al-Ordini, Abu Abdulrahman al-Mohajer, Abu Sulaiman al-Maghribi, Abu Yahya al-Tunisi, Suraqa al-Maki and Abu Mohammad al-Sharii, as well as some local military leaders, including Abu Elias al-Baniasi, Mustafa al-Zahri, Saied Nasrallah and Hassan Bakour. There was speculation that the assassinations were carried out either by pro-Turkish perpetrators, given
12800-782: The need for a lexical injection in Arabic, to suit concepts of the industrial and post-industrial age (such as sayyārah سَيَّارَة 'automobile' or bākhirah باخِرة 'steamship'). In response, a number of Arabic academies modeled after the Académie française were established with the aim of developing standardized additions to the Arabic lexicon to suit these transformations, first in Damascus (1919), then in Cairo (1932), Baghdad (1948), Rabat (1960), Amman (1977), Khartum [ ar ] (1993), and Tunis (1993). They review language development, monitor new words and approve
12928-424: The one whose sound is heard but whose person remains unseen. Now the term al-hatif is used for a telephone. Therefore, the process of tawleed can express the needs of modern civilization in a manner that would appear to be originally Arabic. In the case of Arabic, educated Arabs of any nationality can be assumed to speak both their school-taught Standard Arabic as well as their native dialects, which depending on
13056-558: The other hand, refused to participate in Astana due to their relations with JFS. Negotiations between Syrian government and opposition representatives began on 23 January. On 20 January 2017, the al-Nusra Front (Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS)) launched several coordinated attacks against Ahrar al-Sham headquarters and positions in the northern Idlib Governorate, near the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing . In addition, al-Nusra also attacked Ahrar al-Sham outposts in Darkush and Jisr al-Shughur . On
13184-549: The overhaul of Arabic grammar first proposed by Al-Jahiz 200 years prior. The Maghrebi lexicographer Ibn Manzur compiled Lisān al-ʿArab ( لسان العرب , "Tongue of Arabs"), a major reference dictionary of Arabic, in 1290. Charles Ferguson 's koine theory claims that the modern Arabic dialects collectively descend from a single military koine that sprang up during the Islamic conquests; this view has been challenged in recent times. Ahmad al-Jallad proposes that there were at least two considerably distinct types of Arabic on
13312-452: The past it supported and provided military assistance to some rebel groups which are now part of this alliance, most notably Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zenki . After the inter-rebel clashes, HTS grew further in size and launched the 2017 Hama offensive in March 2017. On 5 April 2017, a vehicle carrying Lt. Col. Ahmed al-Saud of the 13th Division and Col. Ali al-Samahi, the chief of staff of
13440-536: The previous week. On 25 February, Ahrar al-Sham raided the Free Idlib Army's headquarters and warehouses in the village of Aqrab, Idlib. The AaS fighters occupied the area under the pretext of "protecting" the FIA from a potential HTS attack. The Free Idlib Army, however, denied that they were under attack by Ahrar al-Sham. Three days later, HTS attacked a Sham Legion headquarters in northern Idlib, and captured an arms depot. On 2 March, according to pro-government sources,
13568-486: The rebel regions that HTS controls have resisted it. On 3 February, hundreds of Syrians demonstrated under the slogan "There is no place for al-Qaeda in Syria" in the towns of Atarib , Azaz , Maarat al-Nu'man to protest against HTS. In response, supporters of HTS organized counter-protests in al-Dana , Idlib, Atarib, and Khan Shaykhun . In Idlib pro- Hayyat Tahrir al-Sham protests were held waving pictures of its emir Abu Jaber on 3 February 2017. On 4 February 2017,
13696-410: The region may be mutually unintelligible. Some of these dialects can be considered to constitute separate languages which may have "sub-dialects" of their own. When educated Arabs of different dialects engage in conversation (for example, a Moroccan speaking with a Lebanese), many speakers code-switch back and forth between the dialectal and standard varieties of the language, sometimes even within
13824-424: The relatives of the FSA prisoners executed by Liwa al-Aqsa accused the group of treating them worse than the Syria government ever did. Around Khan Seikhoun, mass graves were discovered following Liwa al-Aqsa's retreat. Between 22 and 23 February, two separate mass graves containing the bodies of at least 131 executed rebels were found near the town. This was in addition to the discovery of the bodies of 41 fighters
13952-399: The remnants of Ahrar al-Sham from Idlib, capturing the entire city as well as 60% of the Idlib Governorate . HTS was now the dominant armed group in opposition-held NW Syria. On 18 August 2017, Tahrir al-Sham captured 8 rebel fighters from the town of Madaya after it accused them of wanting to return to Madaya during a ceasefire agreement . Syrian intelligence commander Hassan Daaboul
14080-628: The same day, Jund al-Aqsa raided an Ahrar al-Sham prison in Jabal Zawiya and freed 13 of their prisoners. Meanwhile, in the same area, al-Nusra attacked the Mountain Hawks Brigade of the Free Idlib Army and captured a commander and his equipment. On 23 January, JFS announced that it has expelled Jund al-Aqsa from its ranks. Clashes then continued. JFS fighters, with support from the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement , captured
14208-458: The same sentence. The issue of whether Arabic is one language or many languages is politically charged, in the same way it is for the varieties of Chinese , Hindi and Urdu , Serbian and Croatian , Scots and English, etc. In contrast to speakers of Hindi and Urdu who claim they cannot understand each other even when they can, speakers of the varieties of Arabic will claim they can all understand each other even when they cannot. While there
14336-458: The sole example of Medieval linguist Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati – who, while a scholar of the Arabic language, was not ethnically Arab – Medieval scholars of the Arabic language made no efforts at studying comparative linguistics, considering all other languages inferior. In modern times, the educated upper classes in the Arab world have taken a nearly opposite view. Yasir Suleiman wrote in 2011 that "studying and knowing English or French in most of
14464-563: The standardization of these new terms throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and toward the development of Arabic as a world language . This gave rise to what Western scholars call Modern Standard Arabic. From the 1950s, Arabization became a postcolonial nationalist policy in countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Sudan. Arabic usually refers to Standard Arabic, which Western linguists divide into Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic. It could also refer to any of
14592-608: The town of Darat Izza defected from Tahrir al-Sham. In October 2017, Russia claimed to have injured Abu Mohammed al-Joulani in an air raid; HTS denied the claim. HTS established the Syrian Salvation Government in Idlib, as a rival to the Syrian Interim Government recognized by other rebels. In early 2018, there were reports that HTS had been significantly weakened, and now had "a small presence in Eastern Ghouta and declining influence in Idlib, northern Hama, and western Aleppo provinces", with just 250 men in Eastern Ghouta and
14720-403: The town of Kafr Nabudah . The rebels were mobilizing in the town to prepare for an offensive in northern Hama. Protesters threw stones and attacked the rebel convoy, killing 3 and injuring 20 of the rebel fighters. On 13 February, clashes erupted between the previously allied Tahrir al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa in northern Hama and southern Idlib. HTS declared war on Jund al-Aqsa as a result, and
14848-501: The towns where the inscriptions were discovered (Dadanitic, Taymanitic, Hismaic, Safaitic). However, most arguments for a single ANA language or language family were based on the shape of the definite article, a prefixed h-. It has been argued that the h- is an archaism and not a shared innovation, and thus unsuitable for language classification, rendering the hypothesis of an ANA language family untenable. Safaitic and Hismaic, previously considered ANA, should be considered Old Arabic due to
14976-585: The wake of the 5th Idlib inter-rebel conflict , HTS gained control of nearly the entire Idlib pocket, after defeating the Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation . Following their victory, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham would immediately violate the ceasefire treaty brokered by Turkey and Russia by placing combat units in the demilitarized zone along the Idlib-Syrian Government border, and attack SAA encampments near
15104-533: The western Aleppo units of the Levant Front , and the Idlib-based units of Jaysh al-Islam . JFS meanwhile lost several hundred fighters to Ahrar al-Sham, but gained 3,000-5,000 fighters from its merger with Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zinki, Liwa al-Haq, Jaish al-Sunna, and Jabhat Ansar al-Din into HTS. Nour al-Din al-Zenki had at one time been supported by the US. Throughout January fierce fighting had broken out between
15232-451: The world have classes that teach Arabic as part of their foreign languages , Middle Eastern studies , and religious studies courses. Arabic language schools exist to assist students to learn Arabic outside the academic world. There are many Arabic language schools in the Arab world and other Muslim countries. Because the Quran is written in Arabic and all Islamic terms are in Arabic, millions of Muslims (both Arab and non-Arab) study
15360-463: Was among the 40 assassinated by Hayyat Tahrir al-Sham, in twin bomb attacks at complexes of the Ba'athist secret police in Homs . The explosion killed Ibrahim Darwish, a Brigadier General and the state security branch's chief. Abu Yusuf al-Muhajir, a Tahrir al-Sham military spokesman was interviewed by Human Voice on the bombings. Twenty-six names were released. HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani mentioned
15488-478: Was described as a "reshaping of revolutionary dynamics" that could change the balance of power in the Syrian civil war and also adversely affect the future prospects of Al-Qaeda in northern Syria. During 2017-2019, HTS launched a series of crackdowns against Al-Qaeda loyalists; while concurrently carrying out military operations to dismantle cells linked to the Islamic State (IS) group. On 30 January, it
15616-479: Was formed on 28 January 2017 as a merger between Jaysh al-Ahrar (an Ahrar al-Sham faction), Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), Ansar al-Din Front , Jaysh al-Sunna , Liwa al-Haqq , and Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement . The unification process was held under the initiative of Abu Jaber Shaykh , an Islamist commander who had been the second Emir of Ahrar al-Sham . Proclaiming the nascent organisation as "a new stage in
15744-427: Was interpreted as an attempt to re-establish as a more pragmatic, pan-Sunni group, with a civilian structure. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri denounced this turn. HTS announced Abu Jaber's resignation as the group's leader on 1 October 2017. He was succeeded by Nusra Front founder Abu-Muhammad al-Julani , who had already been the de facto military commander. On 1 October 2017, the ibn Taymiyyah Battalions based in
15872-459: Was killed by Tahrir al-Sham. On 14 February, Jund al-Aqsa announced the execution of 150–200 prisoners of war , including both HTS and FSA fighters. More than 160 of those executed were FSA fighters, including more than 70 from Jaysh al-Nasr, while 43 were HTS members who were killed after a Sharia Court was stormed in Idlib's rural countryside in Moqa village by Liwa al-Aqsa. In order to secure
16000-419: Was released by Abu Jaber on 9 February. He emphasized his group being an "independent entity" and praised his "brothers" in the "Syrian Jihad " for their "heroic" resistance against Ba'athist forces , Hezbollah and Russians. The statement urged all opposition factions to join forces with HTS and warned Syrian Sunnis ; asserting that Iran will "enslave the region" if the rebels lose the war. On 12 February,
16128-459: Was reported by Asharq al-Awsat that there were around 31,000 fighters in Tahrir al-Sham. Fighters of Jaysh al-Ahrar , a breakway faction of Ahrar al-Sham militia, joined Tahrir al-Sham and increased its numbers. On 3 February, a US airstrike struck a Tahrir al-Sham headquarters in Sarmin , killing 12 members of HTS and Jund al-Aqsa . 10 of the killed militants were HTS members. Civilians in
16256-633: Was reported that 600 Jund al-Aqsa militants would be transported to the Ar-Raqqah Governorate to join ISIL, while the remaining Jund al-Aqsa forces would surrender their heavy weapons and join the Turkistan Islamic Party within 72 hours. By this point, it was reported that over 250 Free Syrian Army and Tahrir al-Sham fighters had been killed in clashes by Jund al-Aqsa. That afternoon, a convoy of Jund al-Aqsa members and their relatives tried to cross from Idlib Province into
16384-425: Was reported that Western hostilities towards HTS have decreased, yet still marked by mutual rivalry due to conflict with American interests in the region. Arabic language Arabic (endonym: اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ , romanized : al-ʿarabiyyah , pronounced [al ʕaraˈbijːa] , or عَرَبِيّ , ʿarabīy , pronounced [ˈʕarabiː] or [ʕaraˈbij] )
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