Non-Ideological Jihadi Rebel Governance? HTS in Idlib

(8. Between rebellion and governance: violence, legitimacy, and control by armed groups in civil wars) Most studies of jihadi rebel governance explore their ideological facets. But governance by jihadi groups is not necessarily ideological. In North West Syria, former Jabhat al-Nusra transformed into a new group called HTS, which paradoxically abstained from applying an ideological governance project for domestic and international reasons. After taking over the province, the group has instead sought to gain local and international acquiescence against the backdrop of the failures of previous IS and AQ experiments. Despite HTS’s non-ideological emphasis, however, ideology still paradoxically playing role in HTS and its supported government’s religious and security policies in the Idlib province. This case suggests new avenues beyond existing research on ideological moderation and rebel governance by Islamist groups more generally. This paper is based on extensive field research and interviews in Idlib with HTS’s leadership, its supported government, and an array of other actors.