“Promotional campaign” | In plain clothes, Al-Julani opens Aleppo-Bab Al-Hawa highway

Idlib province: As Abu Mohammad Al-Julani the leader of Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham has frequently attended media and press conferences in plain clothes, he was seen today in the northern countryside of Idlib, near the Syria border with Iskenderun region, escorting Ali Keda the head of the HTS-backed “Salvation Government,” while opening Aleppo-Bab Al-Hawa highway.

 

It is worth noting that the renovated highway comes as a part of a “governmental-popular” project, as the highway was enlarged, paved and lightened with the “Salvation Government” bearing two thirds of the expenses of the project while the remaining share was collected from the residents of Idlib.

 

According to SOHR sources, many  media outlets have covered the event, while HTS members stationed at checkpoints in this area have been put on high alert because of the presence of Al-Julani.

 

This development comes as a part of Al-Julani’s efforts to promote his group, Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham, as a “moderate entity” and to show that he and his group have changed their policy and abandoned the ideology of Al-Qaeda, which it had sworn allegiance, in the hope that it would be removed from terrorism lists.

 

On November 23, SOHR sources reported that the leader of Hayyat Tahrir al-Sham, Abu Mohammed Al-Julani participated, in official uniform, in a meeting held in Idlib, attended by officials of the HTS-backed “Salvation Government,” others of “Shoura Council” (Consultative Assembly) and some media activists in order to discuss the economic situations in HTS-held areas. The meeting coincided with the prohibitively high prices of essential products due to the ongoing freefall of the Turkish Lira which the people in HTS-held areas deal in.