On Friday, hundreds of civilians demonstrated in Hass village and in Ma’arat al-Nu’man town in the southern Idlib countryside against Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
The demonstrators demanded HTS to release the detainees from its jails and to withdrew its fighters from Ma’arat al-Nu’man town, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The demonstrators carried pictures of civilians and Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters killed by HTS and banners mocking the recent HTS decision to ban smoking in Idlib city.
HTS had sent an order to its checkpoints around Idlib town on August 10 to confiscate cigarettes and tobacco products. HTS has also banned women who do not wear the full niqab from boarding public buses. The laws imposed by HTS in Idlib province are similar to ISIS laws.
It is worth to mention that HTS began to run Idlib city after capturing it last month, where HTS is clearly working to build a direct copy of ISIS “Islamic State” in Idlib province while all other sides are busy fighting ISIS in Syria and Iraq.