Clashes Develop Between Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham And Syrian Liberation Front In Southern Idlib

A fighter of the SLF on the front lines against HTS, Illustrative image

On April 18, the Syrian Liberation Front (SLF) announced that its fighters repelled a new attack by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on their positions in the villages of Tramla, Faqie and Karsaa in southern Idlib. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), SLF fighters captured a local field commander of HTS while they were repelling the HTS attack.

Meanwhile, the HTS-linked news agency Iba’a reported that HTS fighters had repelled an attack by the SLF on their positions in the villages of Ihsim and Marayan in southern Idlib. HTS fighters captured two vehicles of the SLF during the clashes around the two villages, according to Iba’a.

HTS captured more than 15 villages and towns in southern Idlib from the SLF in a large-scale attack on April 15. A day later, the SLF launched a similar attack against the HTS in western Aleppo and captured several positions including the strategic town of Aajil.

A report by the Syrian opposition news outlet Enab Baladi released on April 18 revealed that more of 700 fighters of HTS and the SLF had been killed since the beginning of the “war of abolition” on February 20.

The recent development suggests that a peaceful solution for the ongoing war between HTS and the SLF is still impossible, as each side is determined to fully eliminate the other.