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The General Security directorate of al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) announced on September 26 that it had eliminated a senior ISIS Leader in the northwestern Syrian region of Greater Idlib.
In a statement, the General Security said the leader, Youssef Noman Abd Naif al-Jubori, and his guard, Sami Jasim Mohamad Abdullah al-Jubori, were killed in a “security operation” in western Idlib.
Hassan Hassan, a director at the Washington-based Center for Global Policy, revealed that Noman, known by his nom de guerre “Abu al-Harith,” and his guard, who is also known as “Haji Hamed” and “Sami al-Ajouz,” were both working as couriers and coordinators for ISIS between Syria and Iraq.
Abu al-Harith is the brother of Mutaz Abd Naif Noman, “Haji Tayseer,” a member of ISIS’ Delegated Committed and the former Iraq “Wali.”
Both Abu al-Harith (killed this week by HTS in NW Syria) and Hajji Hamed served as the ISIS courier and coordination between the wilayat of Iraq and Syria. And, obviously, both come from the same Iraqi tribe of al-Jubour. pic.twitter.com/KGy1kWJTxR
— Hassan Hassan (@hxhassan) September 27, 2020
HTS, originally Known as the al-Nusra Front, was ISIS’ main branch in Syria. In 2014, al-Nusra, led by Abu Mohamad al-Julani, defected from ISIS in response to Abu Baker al-Baghdad’s declaration of the “Caliphate.”
The two terrorist groups have been involved in a war of attrition since then, despite adopting the same radical ideology and political goals.
ISIS appears to wish to legalize itself in Idlib in hopes that President Assad gives them their Idlib Caliphate.
All the trade deals, prisoner swaps, and open border crossings with HTS have certainly paid off for Assad, now he can just sit back and relax for a while, as he watches HTS eagerly do the dirty work he can’t do himself. But I’m pretty sure the thing that will be amusing Assad the most is watching Erdogan desperately trying to hold onto the last shreds of Idlib, as HTS pries the last remaining pieces from Erdogan’s grasping hands, that has to be putting a smile on Assad’s face. But will Russia ruin Assad’s party by eliminating Turkey’s biggest threat HTS, which would then give Turkey the much needed boost it needs to get the political agenda back on the road again, I think they might, because resolution 2254 won’t be stopped by anyone, not if the Russians have their way, because a new Syrian constitution and new elections are Russia’s highest priority now, and Turkey’s too, :[ but it’s not Assad’s highest priority now, it’s probably the last thing on his list. :]