Through its Salvation Government, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly known as al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, has been seeking to fully control the humanitarian aid that is being provided to the displaced in Idlib province and parts of the countryside of Aleppo in northwest Syria.

Humanitarian organizations in these areas are facing restrictions on their work, with several nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) seeing their offices and warehouses stormed into and employees arrested, in a bid to strong-arm them to comply with the conditions of the Organizations Affairs Management Office, which HTS uses to extend its control over civil, humanitarian and relief works in its areas of control.

Syrian human rights activists accuse HTS of acquiring a part of the humanitarian aid provided to the displaced and imposing levies on NGOs to allow them to carry on with their work in supporting the displaced and the most vulnerable groups, which allows HTS to secure additional resources in hard currency.

A former HTS policeman, who worked in one of the organization’s precincts in the border town of Sarmada before he was expelled and imprisoned for a month because of his addiction to smoking cigarettes, talked to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. He was forced to move to live with his family in the north of Aleppo.