“Until two weeks ago, the Syrian civil war maintained a certain stability of status quo. Dictator Bashar al-Assad ruled in the south, the Kurds ruled in the northeast, and a Turkish- backed militia controlled the northwest… "The choice between Mr. Assad and HTS is almost like choosing between the plague and cholera," says terrorism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler. If HTS does actually prevail, it would be bad news both for the ethnic minorities in Syria and for terrorism prevention in Europe. Schindler is Senior Director at the Counter Extremism Project and previously coordinated the monitoring of ISIL, Al-Qaida and the Taliban for the UN Security Council. Regarding his assessment of HTS, he points out: "There are already the first videos of people from the HTS environment who want to build a caliphate."”

“The rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded the lightning offensive against the capital, is an Islamist movement that has controlled Syria's northwestern areas for several years… Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the international research institute Counter Extremism Project (CEP), believes that there is no reason to remove the blacklist. "If you have to ask permission from al-Qaeda's leadership before breaking ties with al-Qaeda, the sincerity of the ideological reorientation is questionable," he told AFP. – There is absolutely no doubt that they should still be listed as a terrorist group, he claims.”

"The regime of President Bashar al-Assad has collapsed after a lightning rebel offensive that began less than two weeks ago. The alliance of opposition groups is led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Hans-Jakob Schindler of the Counter Extremism Project talked to DW about support for the rebels among the Syrian public."

"Hayat Tahrir al Sham, a terror group linked to al-Qaida, overran Syria’s second largest city this week. Counterterrorism experts indicate it’s the strongest signal in the last few years that the terror group and its allies are rapidly gaining strength. In this week’s episode of “The Hunt with WTOP National Security Correspondent J.J. Green,” Hans Jakob Schindler, senior director of the Counter Extremism Project, said the group could soon become a problem for the U.S.”

"Moscow is absorbed by the war in Ukraine and Tehran by an explosive regional situation that has weakened its allies, first and foremost Hezbollah in Lebanon, after two months of war with Israel. The rebels have chosen the "ideal" moment to launch their offensive, believes Hans-Jakob Schindler, of the think tank Counter-Extremism Project (CEP), as Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah "have other problems to solve at the moment."”

"Hans-Jakob Schindler, director of the think tank the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), said now was the ideal time for the rebels to attack.

"The Assad regime is truly not very strong," he told AFP."