HTS fighters in the northern Homs countryside pocket, Illustrative image
Al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the de facto ruler of the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib, will merge with the Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation (NFL), a number of pro-opposition sources reported on March 4.
One of the source, the Istanbul-based Jusoor for Studies, claimed that HTS and the NFL are planning to form a military council with support from Turkey.
According to Jusoor director, Mohamad Sarmini, the military council will have up to 34 brigades and will be co-chaired by the following three commanders:
- Abu Hassan Halfaya, representing HTS.
- Capt. Abu al-Mundhir, representing the NFL’s Ahrar al-Sham Movement.
- Muhammad Horan Abu Usid representing the NFL’s Sham Legion.
Sarmini went on to claim that the military council will be under the subversion of HTS’ Salvation Government, which will establish a “Defense Ministry.”
“The political goal of the step is to withdraw a pressure card from Russia, which insists that the fight against terrorism [in Greater Idlib] should continue,” several outlets quoted Sarmini as saying.
Despite engaging in several conflicts over the last few years, HTS and the NFL have been actively coordinating against the Syrian military and its allies.
The proposed military council is clearly meant to provide a legitimate cover for the terrorist activities of HTS and other al-Qaeda factions in Greater Idlib. If true, the alleged plan will be the most recent in a series of attempts by the Turkey and the West to whitewash HTS.
So as sure as the sun will shine
I’m gonna get my share now, what’s mine
And then the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
Ooh, the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
Well, the oppressors are trying to keep me down
Trying to drive me underground
And they think that they have got the battle won
I say forgive them Lord, they know not what they’ve done
‘Cause, as sure as the sun will shine
I’m gonna get my share now, what’s mine
And then the harder they come
The harder they fall, one and all
Ooh, the harder they come
Harder they fall, one and all
They can rename/ merge however many times but soon enough Russia and Iran will kill all these jihadis. There is no other future for jihadis.
What about the pro-Iranian jihadists like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah …. do they have other future?
Sunni Jihadist have no future
Totally. Hezb threw Israel out, the Syrians are throwing a global plethora of terrorists out and the Iraqi PMU’s are about to throw the US out. Soon enough Hamas and others will throw you Israeli’s out too.
Hamas are treacherous Muslimbrothers thugs, betraying their friends for the oil dollars of that regime in Qatar and the crypto jew Erdogan.. no future indeed..
“Hamas are treacherous Muslimbrothers thugs, betraying their friends” – Indeed.
clearly turkey wants to annex idlib to do that it needs all militants to merge
Sure they want to annex Idlib but they can’t because : 1 ) HTS which controls 80% of the Idlib are not on good terms with Turkey . 2 ) Fighting HTS to annex Idlib means taking in an additional >5 mln Syrians with 3.5 mln Syrians already refugees in Turkey . 3 ) Assuming that Turkey actually fights HTS in Idlib , Then they are making the job easier for SAA , Shia militias who will have an easy time fighting Turkey in a long Guerrilla war of attrition which will have disastrous results on the Turkish military .
Turkey’s best possible choice is to annex areas that are currently under its control in The north ( aka Peace spring , Olive branch , Euphrates shield areas ) as these areas have majority Turkic people and can be easily secured .
You’re kidding, right.
Turkey and the Sunni irregulars are hand in glove.
Turkey has huge presence along line of control.
Turkey has failed to take any steps it was to take under the cease fire.
The truth is that Russia, US, Israel and Turkey have agreed to divide Syria. Turkey gets Idlib and the northern rim (Trump didn’t let Turkey in 20km by mistake); Israel gets Golan and free hand on Iran; Russia gets strategic air and naval presence in a much smaller Syria. USA gets east of River and Al Tanf for strategic alliance with Kurds, which area of influence includes northern Iraq and into Iran.
Turkey has good relations with what they call “ Moderate Opposition “ which doesn’t include HTS , Turkey’s presence in Idlib is to stop any possible Russian attack on it as Russia wouldn’t risk killing Turkish soldiers there .
“ Turkey has failed to take any steps it was to take under the cease fire “ Because Turkish politicians were not content with their achievements on the ground , This is only due to stupid , greedy politicians .
And yes Syria will be divided among the combatants , That’s usually what happens in multi Ethno-Religious countries in the event of civil war .
Isn’t this good news? It’s easier to fight only one enemy. Considering HTS as part of Al Qaeda, which is outlawed in Russia, will allow the russian air force bomb the crap out of all those terrorists.
“Allow”?! These are hostile military formations, occupying the land of Russia’s Syrian treaty ally. With the consent of Damascus, Russia has been “allowed” to crush them any time in the past four years; it has been “allowed” the obliterate their Turkish and MI6 minders (at least whenever these show up on Syrian soil); it has been “allowed” to liberate the Omar oil fields, and flatten the US base at al-Tanf; it has been “allowed” to, you know, do something about the endless Israeli bombings.
Russia chooses to do none of these things for some arguably valid reasons because for some of these it isn’t sure it could control the escalation, and because at the hour of truth, fighting terrorism took a back seat to appeasing Turkey. Ask Yuri Peskov if that still feels so smart, now Erdogan’s goons have indeed started to show up in the Caucasus–that’s after all, what the West trained the for.
The only thing thats merged are two cheeks of the same terrorist arse
Which makes it a “pucker”.
“israel-backed terrorists”
The thing is that the people of Idlib don’t want to be the meat in the sandwich sliced up by vested interests, and neither do I, best practice would be to expose the homosexual Sid Loder’s miserable disciples keeping me here in occultation, only if you recognise reality from a common existence can you hope to influence it. I should be living in Damascus where Muslims expect the Mahdi (Rightly Guided One) to turn up.
Actually I’ve had it sent down to me (from Heaven) that Allah (swt) isn’t sending the Mahdi because the Christians refused to recognise me Jesus Christ except in my dreams, Juden maggots they are.