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On July 7, a commander of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) was killed when an IED, which had been planted by ISIS cells, exploded near his vehicle on the road between the towns of Jisr al-Shughur and Darkush in the northwestern Idlib countryside, according to the ISIS-linked news agency Amaq.
Amaq also reported that a second IED killed a fighter of HTS and injured several others on the road between the towns of Armanaz and Kafr Takharim in the northern Idlib countryside.
In the northeastern countryside of the governorate, ISIS cells targeted a vehicle of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the village of Tell al-Karama with a third IED. ISIS claimed that two FSA fighters were killed as a result of the attack.
A day earlier, Amaq began reporting the operations of ISIS cells in Idlib, in what appears to be a major shift in the terrorist group policy towards the northern governorate. ISIS is likely planning to raise in Idlib in a similar way to what it did in the governorate of Deir Ezzor back in 2014.
