On Friday, Ahrar al-Sham issued an official statement condemning the statement issued by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that attacked Suqour al-Sham group and accused it of killing two arms dealers working for HTS in Al-Zawiyeh Mountain.
#الجبهة_الإسلامية#أحرار_الشام
تصريح صحفي بشأن البيان الصادر مؤخراً عن هيئة تحرير الشام pic.twitter.com/LpOSjrfka5— محمد أبو زيد (@Ahrar_SpokesMan) 13 July 2017
In its statement, Ahrar al-Sham announced that HTS violated an earlier agreement through its aggressive statement. It had been previously agreed to form a joint court to look into the crime against two HTS elements in Al-Zawiyeh Mountain and to identify and punish their murderer.
Ahrar al-Sham announced it was surprised by HTS’s continued mobilization of its troops in the vicinity of Al-Zawiyeh Mountain.
According to opposition sources, HTS had mobilized large forces in the vicinity of Al-Zawiyeh Mountain, including tanks and armored vehicles. In its statement, Ahrar al-Sham confirmed that it would strongly thwart any action targeting any of its positions.
An independent Islamist activist in Idlib City published a photo of the agreement between Ahrar al-Sham and HTS on Twitter confirming the claims of Ahrar al-Sham.
تم ذلك بحضوري وشهادتي وبعض الفضلاء من الهيئة والأحرار والمستقلين، نسأله سبحانه أن يلهم القلوب السكينة والأرواح الطمأنينة. pic.twitter.com/QjGqcErqIO
— رامي محمد الدالاتي (@Rami_Dalati) 13 July 2017
However, HTS isn’t expected to change its position, especially since Ahrar al-Sham had issued many similar statements in the past, but done nothing to stop HTS in reality.
too many shams over there.
They all sound the same to me anyway. One big blend of Islamic alphabet soup of crazyness.
After both HTS (the old Al Qaeda) and Ahrar al Sham took over most of the northern smaller groups, they are now not militia anymore, but small armies, just lacking an airforce.
This is one of the reasons SAA and Russia is leaving them alone in Idlib.
It is also a cofactor for SAA agression in the south and Badyia. Rebels are fragmented there and IS is about to expire. The only southern region with more cohesive rebels in the south is now also under ceasefire.
Once IS is defeated, DeZ taken, by anyone, I expect tensions around rebels to increase again. SDF is secure as long as they have US airsupport. Only exception is Afrin that remains vulnarable to Turkey. The ultimate solution there is for the US and Russia to declare and enforce a ceasefire there. An enforcement to include any Turkish forces within Syria. Azaz enclave to be included as far as Turkey is concerned with stationing say Kazakh forces there.