Locally made weaponry, including night-vision equipment, rocket systems, drones and armoured vehicles, was pivotal in the shock ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, top rebel commanders have revealed, as the interim government announced that rebel factions will dissolve and merge to form a new Syrian defence ministry.
In interviews with The Independent, senior figures from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – the Islamist opposition faction that led the charge – explained how they had planned the offensive for more than four years after devastating losses at the hands of the Assad regime in 2020 forced them to build a “new military doctrine” from scratch.
