An informed source told Al-Quds.com on Saturday that the attack by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on the positions of the Syrian state and regular forces came as a result of an American-Israeli “emergency plan” coordinated by the administration of President Joe Biden with Turkey, and “was implemented according to an American vision for the second day of the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel,” especially in light of the failure to achieve a decisive Israeli victory against Hezbollah, and this is “in the process of inflicting a defeat on Iran and its allies in the region, such as the Syrian army that regained control of Aleppo more than eight years ago.”

“These militias have more or less maintained their structure, benefiting from dual American and Turkish support that provided them with training and protection, and also benefiting from the fact that the Syrian army forces did not attack the Idlib region for several years, the area from which they launched on Wednesday,” said the source, who trained “Syrian rebels” such as the Free Syrian Army, Jabhat al-Nusra, and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham at bases in Jordan and Turkey at the end of the Obama administration and in the first year of the first Trump administration (2017-2021). He retired in 2018 to work with Western security companies operating in the region.

“There is no doubt that Turkey has provided protection for these militias, whose presence has been strengthened since Turkey occupied significant areas in what it called Operation Peace Spring, which began on October 9, 2019 (which was the third major Turkish military operation on Syrian territory since 2016, after Operation Euphrates Shield (2016-2017) and Operation Olive Branch (2018), and it has also provided these militias with significant operational space and the necessary freedom to move and continue to maintain strength,” the source added, requesting anonymity because of ongoing operations in the region.

In response to a question from the Jerusalem correspondent about the goal that America, Israel and Turkey want to achieve through these attacks, and what is the fate of both the Syrian government forces and the terrorist militias, the source said: “The United States - or the Biden administration, wants to maintain the American presence in Syria in order to maintain a pressure card on Russia, and to strike a blow to Iran and weaken its presence and influence in the region after eradicating the leadership and capabilities of Hezbollah, in addition to benefiting from the oil and supporting its Kurdish allies.”

"As for Israel, its goal is consistent with American goals, and it also believes that it has momentum to impose normalization on the countries of the region, which it wants to follow up by increasing pressure on Iran."

Regarding the goals of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from the terrorist militias’ attack, the source said: “The goals of Turkey and Erdogan are complex and their roots go back decades; perhaps to the Adana Agreement in 1998; and certainly to the period immediately following the American invasion of Iraq, as there was a belief that the regime of (Syrian President Bashar) Assad was shaky in 2004 and 2005 following the American occupation of Iraq, and that the Syrian regime, which was providing support to the Iraqi rebels, was on the verge of collapse, which strengthened Turkish ambitions.”

“Despite the regime’s survival and success in avoiding the fate of (Iraqi President) Saddam (Hussein), relations between Assad and Turkey were tense between 2006 and 2011, and were severed after 2011, during the bloody Syrian civil war.”

The source added that Turkish President Erdogan is interested in invading the northeastern Syrian region ruled by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), and that this is consistent with the logic adopted by the Turkish regime, which sees this as part of the fight against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - which Turkey considers "terrorist" and is supported by the United States and the European Union, "and Türkiye considers its defeat a top security priority."

In addition, according to the source: “My reading of the scene makes me believe that Türkiye is seeking to control, and even annex, Idlib and Aleppo.”

Regarding his expectations for how things will go in light of the expansion of the “rebels” and the retreat of the Syrian army forces in an area adjacent to the Russian presence in Syria, the source said: “It will be a replay of the movie we watched during the years of the raging civil war: more innocent deaths; more displaced people and more destruction, and ultimately sweeping bloody attacks and air strikes by the Syrian army with Russian assistance and protection, unless there is an understanding between the Russian president and President (elect) Trump - - what is certain is that the next eight weeks (until Trump takes office) will be terrifying in the confrontation between the regime and the rebels.”

The source said he believed that "Trump will withdraw US forces from Syria, perhaps through a comprehensive agreement with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, unless the United States becomes involved in a wider war in the region."

It is noteworthy that before the current crisis, Idlib province remained the last major stronghold of armed extremist organizations confronting the Syrian state throughout the Syrian conflict. The region has become a focal point for the overlapping interests of various local and international powers, creating a volatile and tense environment.

In 2017, as part of the Astana peace process, Russia, Turkey, and Iran agreed to establish de-escalation zones, with Idlib designated as one of them. The purpose of these agreements was to reduce the intensity of hostilities and create conditions for a political solution. However, the ceasefires were repeatedly violated, and military operations continued, leading to an escalation of the conflict. The growing influence of extremist Islamist groups, such as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, also complicated the dialogue between the parties, as many of these organizations were excluded from the negotiations and classified as terrorist groups.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (an offshoot of al-Qaeda) has announced stunning advances in Aleppo, a major symbolic and strategic prize for the Biden administration and a major setback for the government in Damascus and its allies Russia and Iran.

The extremist rebels poured into Aleppo two days after an unexpected offensive from the rebel-held northwest and eight years after the city fell to forces loyal to the government of Bashar al-Assad at the end of a long siege. Wednesday’s rebel offensive is the most significant shift in years in the balance of power in Syria, a conflict that has become a battleground for global power rivalries and has also drawn in the United States, Turkey, Israel and a host of other outside actors.

Aleppo was a symbol of the Syrian rebellion after it erupted there in 2011, with the opposition seizing parts of the city in 2012. The rebel-held part of the city fell to the government in 2016 after a long campaign of Russian and Syrian airstrikes and siege.

If President-elect Trump decides to withdraw US forces from Syria, experts expect that he will be subjected - as he was in 2018 - to attacks by neoconservatives similar to when he withdrew 2,000 US troops from Syria in 2018.

The Washington Post at the time called Trump’s decision “Trump’s stunning surrender to Russia.” New York Times columnist Nick Kristof tweeted: “Abandoning the rebels, especially as the vacuum in ISIS territory opens up, is a gift to Assad and Putin, and we didn’t negotiate anything in return.” Washington Post hawk Mark Thiessen declared: “We need to restore the CIA’s covert train-and-equip program and lift the Defense Department’s restrictions on Sunnis joining us in the fight against the Assad regime.” Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), a close ally of AIPAC, called Trump’s decision “impulsive, irresponsible and dangerous.” He added: “I hope the president reconsider. In my opinion, the only people who are happy with this decision are the Syrians, the Iranians and the Russians.”

Republican hawks Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio (the incoming US secretary of state) have condemned the move, as has former Obama-Biden State Department official Victoria Nuland in an op-ed in The Washington Post, saying, “By deciding to withdraw all US troops from Syria, President Donald Trump is giving a huge New Year’s gift to President Bashar al-Assad, the Islamic State, the Kremlin and Tehran.”

“Everything about this volatile decision puts American national interests at risk,” said Nuland, who has first-hand experience playing for regime change.

It is noteworthy that the ongoing American intervention in Syria for two years is illegitimate and illegal under international law, unconstitutional, unproductive, costly, and harmful to American national security interests in the region.