[Tee tiong huat]

United States has shared intelligence with Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) to thwart recent ISIS attacks, including one targeting the Sayyidah Zeynab shrine, southeast of Damascus.[10] Syrian state media reported on January 11 that the General Security Department and General Intelligence Service stopped four ISIS suicide bombers from attacking the shrine.[11] ISIS attacks targeting Shia sites could delegitimize HTS as the primary governing authority in Syria. Iran has similarly leveraged the shrine’s religious significance to drive a sectarian information operation against HTS.[12] Attacks on the shrine resonate with other Syrian minority groups outside of the Twelver Shia sect who also appear increasingly distrustful of the HTS-led interim Syrian govt temporaly.