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Binnish was among the first cities to rise up peacefully against Bashar Assad’s regime. Its location quickly made it an early site of confrontation with his forces, which responded to peaceful demonstrations with violence. The city lies at the eastern entrance to Idlib province and borders Taftanaz military airport and the towns of Kafriya and al-Foua, bringing it into direct contact with sites and forces loyal to the regime.
Residents pursued different paths, from civil activism and armed struggle to local administration, and dozens of figures emerged from the city during the revolution. Binnish was liberated early. Assad’s forces tried to storm it twice in 2011, and it then endured years of bombardment, including barrel-bomb attacks, while sheltering thousands of displaced people and refugees.
Following the fall of Assad’s rule, figures from Binnish entered the institutions of the new state, several of them reaching positions of power. President Ahmed al-Sharaa described Binnish as a “pioneer of the revolution,” expressing hope that it would also be “a pioneer in rebuilding the new Syria,” and said the administration in Idlib had relied heavily on its people.
Family influence in government
Four members of one family from Binnish have risen to prominence. Foremost among them is Qutaiba Badawi, who holds several positions, including head of the General Authority for Border Crossings and Customs with the rank of minister, under a presidential decree issued on 23 November 2025.
After Syria’s liberation, Badawi served as director of the General Customs Directorate. On 31 December 2024, then-caretaker Prime Minister Mohammad al-Bashir appointed him head of the General Authority for Land and Sea Crossings.
Badawi also heads the National Committee for Import and Export, which was reconstituted by presidential decree on 17 May 2026. He is a member of the Supreme Council for Economic Development, formed by presidential decree on 24 June 2025. He represents the council on the nine-member board of the Syrian Petroleum Company, although reports that he has left this role remain officially unconfirmed.
In Idlib, Qutaiba Badawi was known by the aliases “Abu Hamza Binnish” and “al-Mughira Binnish.” He joined Jabhat al-Nusra and remained with it through its subsequent transformations before becoming emir of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s Idlib sector. During HTS rule in Idlib between 2017 and 2024, he held several positions, including director of the Bab al-Hawa border crossing and the official responsible for managing border crossings. He also took on economic responsibilities and was among the leading figures managing economic affairs alongside Omar Qadid, “Abu Abdul Rahman al-Zarba.”
His brother Hudhayfa Badawi, “Abu Hafs Binnish,” took over management of the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing with Lebanon after Assad fled. He later became head of the Syrian Defence Ministry’s Supply and Logistics Authority with the rank of brigadier general. This followed years in security and military posts in Jabhat al-Nusra and its later iterations, including command of HTS’s Talha bin Ubayd Allah Brigade.
The name “Abu Hafs” surfaced during clashes between HTS and Free Syrian Army factions, as well as tensions with factions linked to al-Qaeda, including Hurras al-Din. In 2020, he oversaw, on behalf of HTS, the ceasefire agreement with Hurras al-Din and the closure of its headquarters in the town of Arab Said and the al-Rouj Plain.
In 2024, internal disputes within HTS escalated over the issue of “agents working with the regime, Russia and the coalition,” and “Abu Hafs” announced that he was suspending his work in the military wing. He was protesting against the handling of the issue, which resulted in dozens of leaders and other frontline figures being imprisoned and tortured.
Dr Maad Badawi combines medical and community work with business activities in the food and poultry industries. He heads the Syrian Association for Poultry, which addresses the sector’s concerns and represents breeders and producers. The association was officially launched in Damascus on 17 September 2025. He also manages the Islamic Medical Complex in Binnish.
Rayan Food’s official website lists Maad Badawi as its administrative director, with more than 15 years of experience in the food industry. The company is owned by the Badawi family. Reports say it supplied mortadella products to the new Syrian army because Hudhayfa Badawi headed the Supply and Logistics Authority, although NoonPost could not verify this information.
Maad also sits on the committee overseeing the “Binnish for your eyes” campaign to rehabilitate the city’s infrastructure. He runs the Ghiras al-Ataa charitable foundation, which oversaw fundraising to build a new hospital in Binnish. As part of the campaign, the foundation is also supervising restoration, rehabilitation and maintenance work on schools, roads, the clinic and the sewage network.
Maad Badawi served two terms on the Idlib Health Directorate’s board of trustees, from 2015 to 2017 and from 2017 to 2020. There is no information indicating any connection to military or administrative work within HTS or its civilian arm, the Salvation Government.
The youngest brother, Musab Badawi, “Abu Umair,” serves as deputy governor of Damascus. He was also tasked with heading the General Authority for Planning and International Cooperation until a decree issued on 27 May 2025 converted it into the Planning and Statistics Authority under the Foreign Ministry and appointed Anas Radwan Salim to replace him as its head.
In Idlib, Musab managed the Higher Institute of Administration, established by the Salvation Government in 2024 to develop government employees’ administrative skills. The institute reported directly to the prime minister’s office and was not affiliated with any academic body. Abu Umair’s work was not connected to military affairs, while media reports indicate that he previously headed HTS’s human resources department and managed relations with humanitarian organisations in northern Syria.
Musab ran the Dar Naqsh publishing house, registered in his name. It began in 2016 as the Cordoba Bookstore and expanded from providing student services in Idlib to publishing jihadist books and literary reflections. Between 2020 and 2023, Naqsh also printed several books by Hussein al-Sharaa, Ahmed al-Sharaa’s father, at the request of his son Ahmed, then known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. These were printed in limited, undisclosed editions for personal use, according to an article by writer and researcher Hossam Jazmati.
The four brothers are among the most influential figures from Binnish in Syria’s new governing institutions. Others from the city hold administrative government posts, including running media and cultural offices. In May 2026, a presidential decree appointed Tamim Ibrahim Sawaghi, a native of Binnish, as assistant for crossings affairs to the head of the General Authority for Border Crossings and Customs.
Fadel Haj Hashem heads the General Poultry Establishment after holding several administrative posts in Idlib within the Salvation Government. These included responsibility for the Binnish bloc in the central region and the Idlib bloc in regional administration. He headed Binnish’s local council from 1 August 2016 to 27 April 2017, then led the council re-established under Salvation Government supervision on 11 January 2019.
Economist Karam Shaar believes that “the strongest family networks in Syria after Assad at the intersection of state and money belong to the Badawi family,” arguing that the concentration of power in the hands of a family, institution or entity should be “a cause for concern for all Syrians” because it “opens the door to domination and corruption,” while noting that there is no evidence that any member of the family has abused power.
Trust tested by crises
Binnish’s diversity has produced dozens of figures working in different fields and holding different views. Some have died, including Taha Sobhi Fallaha, “Abu Mohammed al-Adnani“, the Islamic State group’s spokesman and one of its most prominent leaders, as well as Ahmad Badawi, “Abu Youssef,” and Youssef Qutb, “Abu Jamil,” both leading figures and founders of Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiya. Several of the movement’s leaders were also buried in Binnish after the bombing that killed its top leadership.
Hamza Ziouani’s voice was part of the city’s protests. He drove his modest car through Binnish’s streets, calling for demonstrations and broadcasting chants and slogans. Modar Abdul Salam Hamdoun, meanwhile, became Idlib’s first governor after its liberation from Assad’s forces in 2015. He managed Idlib’s affairs for about nine months before dying of wounds sustained in battles to repel a ground offensive by Assad’s forces and allied militias in the southern Aleppo countryside.
Artists Aziz Asmar and Anis Hamdoun continued to depict Syrians’ suffering on the city’s walls, destroyed by bombardment from Assad’s forces and their allies. The walls of Binnish and northern Syria became a space for expressing solidarity with humanitarian causes within Syria and beyond.
The people of Binnish engaged with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in different ways: some joined it, others confronted it or criticised its policies. The city saw clashes between HTS and other factions, as well as disputes between HTS and Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiya. Jaber Ali Pasha, a native of Binnish and Ahrar al-Sham’s former religious official and commander, was among the most prominent critics of HTS’s policies, describing it as “aggressing” against factions and revolutionaries. No Binnish resident held a ministerial portfolio in the Salvation Government from its establishment in 2017 through its seventh term in 2024.
Binnish was also one of the main centres of protest against HTS’s policies from the beginning of 2024, when demonstrators called for the overthrow of “Jolani” and for prisons to be emptied. As the protests escalated, General Security blocked roads between Binnish and Idlib to prevent demonstrators from reaching Idlib city centre. Some demonstrations saw assaults and confrontations involving stones and tear gas, and attempts to run over protesters with military vehicles were recorded.
Among the figures from Binnish in the new Syria, ties to HTS appear to be the main factor that helped several reach positions of power, particularly as these connections had developed over years and been tested by conflicts, clashes and crises, both with other factions and within HTS itself.
What became known as the Binnish current was also one of the more influential groupings within HTS. Hudhayfa Badawi, “Abu Hafs,” was among its leading figures because of his military and security roles, while his brother Qutaiba Badawi, “al-Mughira Binnish,” was prominent in economic affairs. The current also included figures from outside Binnish who were close to it: religious official Abdul Rahim Atoun, who heads the Advisory Office for Religious Affairs at the Presidency of the Syrian Arab Republic; current Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais; and Interior Minister Anas Khattab, “Abu Ahmad Hudud.”
During the dispute over the “agents” issue, for example, Qutaiba Badawi, “al-Mughira Binnish,” remained head of HTS’s economic committee despite his brother “Abu Hafs” suspending his work in the military wing. This indicates that the dispute over the handling of the issue did not cause the current to break apart or all its associated figures to lose their positions within HTS. That differs from cases in which prominent figures left the faction, such as its second-in-command, Jihad Issa al-Sheikh. He defected and disclosed files that he said concerned bombing and assassination operations run by HTS and “Jolani.”