Until recently, these people were at war with the Syrian government. Now they hold checkpoints all over the capital. They are former fighters for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. The Islamist group, once an affiliate of Al Qaeda, toppled the government of Bashar al-Assad in early December. After 13 years of civil war, reestablishing security is one of the top priorities for HTS. The group has put people like Basel al-Helal, a former rebel, in charge of the police in Damascus. The fighters-turned-police are now controlling traffic and trying to recover property that was looted during the recent overthrow of the government. They also say their mission is to conduct raids to catch drug dealers, thieves and former government officials. Before the ouster of al-Assad, HTS ran the local government in the part of northern Syria it controlled. There he was accused of rights violations, including imprisoning critics. This worried some people. They worry about how HTS will rule now that it controls a much larger and more diverse part of the country. These HTS fighters say the concerns about them are unwarranted.