From fighters to police in a post-Assad Damascus

Until recently, these men were at war with the Syrian government. Now they are manning checkpoints across the capital. They are former fighters of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or HTS. The Islamist group, once an al-Qaeda affiliate, overthrew the government of Bashar al-Assad in early December. After 13 years of civil war, restoring security is a top priority for HTS. The group has installed people like Basel al-Helal, a former rebel, as head of the police in Damascus. The militants-turned-police are now controlling traffic and trying to return property looted during the recent government overthrow. They also say their mission is to conduct raids to arrest drug dealers, thieves and former government officials. Before overthrowing al-Assad, HTS ran a local government in a part of northern Syria it controlled. There she was accused of rights violations, including the imprisonment of critics. This worries some people. They are concerned about how HTS will govern now that it controls a much larger and more diverse portion of the country. These HTS fighters say concern about them is misplaced.