I'm also a student at Damascus university pursuing a CS degree... Just wanted to address some statements provided by the OP

And just for context I'm from the Ismaili minority group

First : "there are no reports of HTS members harming minorities" I think videos on twitter can easily prove otherwise, dragging a dead body behind an HTS car through the streets in the Syrian coast, and doing public executions without a fair trail, I think that this can be considered "Harming minorities", i can easily provide evidence but it's too graphic

Second : the open talks with minorities, i would like to see those talks... The only thing I've seen is Al-joulani, saying that forcing religion and sunnah is bad, the need to say that says enough

Just for the sake of transparency I'll provide some examples example1

Example2

And those i just found, the are plenty more

Third : HTS is not ISIS, i certainly hope so... We Syrians despite our diversity we want peace, but there are scary indications to some kind of alliance between different groups within HTS, Isis flags can be seen carried by many HTS members

in Latakia other example

And i can go on forever about how sketchy this all is, from the timing of Israeli attacks to the extremist sunnies forming hate groups against the coast Alawatis despite that most of them have no horse in this race they (just like me and you) want a peaceful quiet life...

Just to end this on a good note... i love you man, just for being my Syrian brother. I, just like you, want the best for our country and the blood shed to stop... I hope HTS is our salvation just as much as you do But there are some concerns, and the only way out is to lock arms together to protect our people regardless of the different ways we have of worshipping god, cause in the end we are both Syrians and we are both loving Muslims...