IDLIB, Syria — Islamists of various shades have hailed the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan as a major victory for global jihad. Leaders of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the powerful extremist Sunni group that rules over broad swathes of the northwestern province of Idlib and used to pay fealty to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS), are no exception, airing hope that a similar scenario will unfold in Syria with the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad and his “criminal regime.”

“With utmost joy and delight, we received the news of the conquest of our people in Afghanistan and their land’s [liberation] from the occupation and its agents at the hands of the Taliban,” HTS said in an Aug. 18 statement.

“Perhaps in this victory witnessed today is a lesson and opportunity for the international community and other sides silent about the crimes of Bashar and his aides, as it should encourage them to support the will of the peoples and repeat their demands and not stand alongside the flayer in confronting the free peoples,” the statement added.

Iraqi HTS leader Abu Maria al-Qahtani was even more bullish. “At a time when the massacres committed by the military against those who raised peaceful slogans among Muslims were being commemorated, good news started flowing from Afghanistan. Victory does not come through concessions or euphemisms. Victory come through sincerity, in the roar of canons and the staccato of bullets,” he tweeted. Others composed poems to convey their pleasure.