In the late hours of March 8, two gunmen assassinated a member of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in the town of Hizano in the northern Idlib countryside.
A day after the incident, HTS security forces launched a search operation around the town. The radical group managed to capture the gunmen following clashes. Both of them confessed that they are ISIS members.
“Two masked fighters opened fire on a member of the Hay’at, we pursuit them immediately, a security patrol clashed with them … One of them was injured and transported to the hospital, while the other was captured,” Anas al-Sheikh, a security commander of HTS, told the group’s news network Iba’a.
Later, HTS security forces raided an ammo depot of ISIS cells in Hizano. The depot contained a sniper rifle, a submachine gun with a suppressor, two assault rifle, a light machine gun and several remote controlled improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
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HTS has been involved in a war with ISIS cells in northwestern Syria for more than year now. Earlier this month, the radical group captured Abu Khattab Kafr-Nabudah, a senior ISIS commander, during a special operation in the town of Atarib in the western Aleppo countryside.
Despite HTS attempts to llimit the ISIS influence in its areas, the terrorist group’s activities there are on the raise. In the last few months, dozens of HTS fighters and commanders were killed by ISIS cells. This situation will likely remain same as long as HTS is controlling these areas.
Maybe Assad should “greenbus” the captured ISIS members to Idlib, that would give HTS something to worry about!