Screengrab from al-Shahbah Gathering formation statement.
On February 2, several factions allied to al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) formed a coalition in Turkish-occupied areas in the northern countryside of Syria’s Aleppo, challenging Ankara’s influence in the region.
The factions, the Ahrar al-Sham Movement-Eastern Sector, Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, Al-Tawhid Brigade and 50th Division, said in a joint statement that the new coalition, dubbed the al-Shahba Gathering, was formed to preserve the goals of the “Syrian revolution,” overthrow the “regime,” and organize the defense of opposition areas against any possible attack.
The statement was read by commander Hussein Assaf Abu Tawfiq, also known as “Haji Tell Rifaat,” who said that the coalition will work with existing military and security formations in Turkish-occupied areas.
Syrian opposition activists said that the coalition, which has some 22,000 militants, was formed with direct support from HTS, the de-facto ruler of the Greater Idlib region that includes parts of the western Aleppo countryside.
A few hours after the formation of the coalition a number of problems were reported. The al-Fateh Brigade and the 1st Regiment, the largest units of the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement, refused to join the coalition. Three other units defected from the Al-Tawhid Brigade. Activists said that pressure and even threats from Turkey were the reason.
Late in January, the commander of the Ahrar al-Sham Movement-Eastern Sector, Saddam al-Musa, was killed in a drone strike. Turkey was unofficially blamed for the drone strike. Al-Musa was HTS’s top ally in Turkish-occupied areas in the northern Aleppo countryside.
Turkey’s objection to the new coalition was clear in the response of the Syrian National Army, which rules Turkish-occupied areas in the northern Aleppo countryside. In a statement, the proxy formation denied any links to the al-Shahba Gathering.
HTS’s support for the Shahba Gathering is meant to expand its influence in the northern Aleppo countryside, as well as to challenge and pressure Turkey.
The terrorist group has been working to penetrate the Turkish-occupied area for a few years now. Recently, it stepped up these efforts out of fear of ongoing Russian efforts to restore ties between Ankara and Damascus.
The Turkish military will not likely tolerate HTS provocative behavior for long. One of Ankara’s options is to pull its troops out from Greater Idlib. This would push forward the normalization process with Damascus and open the way for a large-scale Syrian military operation that would end the group or at least minimize its influence.
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I give my full support to all Islamic factions continuing to kill each other.
I give my full support to anyone and anything stopping the killing. If you‘re so fond of death, why don‘t you get yourself killed?
Unfortunately, the biggest killings of this decade will take place in Europe. I hope the U.S./Europe/Russia comes to full blows. pro-Kremlin blogger, thesaker.is, believes the war is inevitable and has announced that he’ll shut down his blog in the coming months.
Do you want to work with Iran or not, in the end?
Why don’t you go and blow your brain to pieces.. clueless stupid idiot
Kedy už konečne Turecko pochopí, že jedine spolupráca z Ruskom a Sýriou môže nastoliť mier v danej oblasti? Treba jednoznačne vykopať okupantov z darebáckeho štátu USA, ktorí destabilizujú celý región. Iná možnosť nie je!!!
HTS was always s a tool of the Zionists. Hopefully Erdougan will open his eyes and together with Assad and Putin they can finally get rid of these pro-Israel terrorists.
Erdogan love Hts
he support only terrorist
JHK should join them.
The US has its own terrorists going rogue which is why they have to cut them down from time to time.
Now if the terrorists previously backed by Turkey and the Kurds turn against one another, the decent folks can step out of the way. It is GREED of the Kurds which puts them at enmity with their host nations, a greed which is exploited by the US who know how to exploit the worst in humanity. At one time, the Kurds where nomadic herders, traversing many nations. Syria allowed them into their nation and gave them citizenship. They want to take the most resource rich parts of their host nations and hog it for themselves and profit exclusively from the wealth of their host nations. They are like the cuckoo bird whose parents lay the cuckoo egg in the nest of the smaller birds and the cuckoo hatches out and chucks the other eggs out of the nest.
I bet you are a pro lgbt secular faggot, and one day you will be peddling adrenochrome because you are a satanist.
There is no such thing such as united Kurdistan.
Geopolitically, Turkiye is at least partially kemalist, where one extreme is that kemalists attempted the coup, and historically Saeed Nursi opposed kemalists labelling them as a satanists. kemalists and Nursists were the two factions arising from WW1 when the brit-am jews invaded unwalled villages, all of them unwalled as per Ezekiel 38.
In Syria, normalization with lgbt secularism is satanic, which is why SNA would oppose Turkiye, SNA being former fsgay under mcain.
If you want proof that secularism is gay and leads to adrenochrome satanism, just look at all the closet faggots in every secular society.
Said Nursi, from what I have read, wasn’t a bloody Wahhabi, like the ones you support. SNA is pro-Turkish, FSA is pro-American.
HTS = Bilad Al-Shami Zaman
SNA = friends with jews & kemalists
Imam Khomeini went as far as to label the assheads as kuffar.
So the arrows of these kuffar point at Bilad Al-Shami.
secular = adrechrome satanism
Japan Based Unit 313, Out.
Unit 731 = adrenochrome satanism