Turkey is confronting the al-Qaeda splinter group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra - in Afrin, a Kurdish-majority region of Syria currently controlled by the Turkish government. In fact, after years in the area, HTS has been declared a terrorist organisation by the Turkish government and NATO, which has withdrawn most of its forces from Afrin, Turkish security sources confirmed to the Middle East Eye.