ALEPPO, Syria — In the first week of September, the town of Atarib in the western Aleppo countryside and the camps for the internally displaced in northern Idlib witnessed large-scale protests staged by Hizb ut-Tahrir (Syria branch), a jihadist party, against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which controls large parts of Idlib province in northwestern Syria.

The protests were triggered by HTS’ arrest of prominent officials from Hizb ut-Tahrir, including media office member Nasser Abdel-Hay.

Mostafa al-Qasr, a prominent member of Hizb ut-Tahrir who resides in Atarib, told Al-Monitor, “HTS’ security apparatus arrested Sept. 1 a member of the party’s media office, Nasser Abdel-Hay, in front of his house in Atarib. [Before his arrest], Abdel-Hay had made public statements attacking the Turkish foreign minister’s call on the Syrian opposition to reconcile with Bashar al-Assad's regime. He had also criticized the Turkish regime's [normalization] stance toward the regime.”

Protests against HTS in the town of Atarib erupted on the evening of Sept. 1, as dozens of Hizb ut-Tahrir supporters rallied in front of HTS’ police station in the center of the town. They demanded the release of their detained party members, including Abdel-Hay.