DAMASCUS (Dispatches) -- A year after the fall of the Assad government, Syria remains trapped in chaos under the rule of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Abu Muhammad al-Jolani. 
The extremist group, an affiliate of both Al-Qaeda and remnants of Daesh, has transformed the country into a theater of sectarian massacres, daily violence, and lawlessness, exposing the failure of the so-called “liberation” that once promised peace and justice.
HTS’s rise to power has done little to alleviate insecurity. Across Idlib and other territories under its control, civilians live in fear of near-daily assassinations, summary executions, and arbitrary harassment. Alawite, Druze, and Christian communities remain under siege, with brutal reprisals targeting anyone perceived as opposed to the takfiri regime. Neighborhoods bear the scars of massacres, while displaced Syrians hesitate to return, fearing death at the hands of HTS militants.
The group’s attempts at presenting a “legitimate” governance façade through feckless courts and temporary administrative councils cannot mask its violent ideology. Public trials of Assad loyalists or opponents are largely performative, staged for propaganda purposes, while genuine justice remains absent. Citizens report that HTS enforces its rule through terror, looting, and coercion rather than law, creating a climate where survival often depends on loyalty to the group or its local commanders.
Meanwhile, Israel continues near-daily strikes on HTS-controlled areas, exploiting the chaos to further occupation objectives, while the Western powers, including the United States and European countries, maintain a hypocritical embrace of the group. 
Despite HTS’s terrorist and takfiri past, these nations have offered diplomatic overtures, normalization talks, and aid, undercutting moral claims of fighting extremism. The contrast is stark: a regime responsible for sectarian killings and public terror is courted internationally, while ordinary Syrians bear the brunt of violence and occupation.
Observers note that HTS’s governance has worsened the humanitarian crisis. Markets remain unstable, public services falter, and fear dictates daily life. Calls for transitional justice are ignored, leaving survivors of massacres, arbitrary arrests, and torture without recourse.
A year after Assad’s removal, Syria has not been liberated; it has fallen into an oppressive hand. HTS’s reign, compounded by Israeli aggression and the West’s duplicity, has turned the promise of so-caled freedom into a nightmare of sectarian terror, occupation, and international cynicism—leaving the Syrian people trapped under the shadow of extremism and hypocrisy.