Nour al-Din al-Zenki Provided Russian Warplanes With Coordinates Of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Positions – Report

Nour al-Din al-Zenki militants have provided coordinates of positions of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) to the Russians for further airstrikes, SMM Syria reported on December 27.

“The footage shows three masked and camo men move one after another down the narrow hallway. A cameraman along with the others is armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle. They enter a room screaming “Allahu akbar”. No one is in there, but a bunch of docs are scattered everywhere and weapons are in the room next-door. A laptop is placed on a desk, and militants suddenly became outraged with what they discovered. “They cooperate with Nusayris and Majuses,” – says one of them. “Allah will take his revenge on these apostates,” – responds the cameraman.

This footage was filmed by militants of HTS group that is recognized as a terrorist organization in US, EU and Russia. Those they call “apostates”, are members of another group named “Harakat Nour ad-Din al-Zenki”. The resentment of HTS terrorists was caused by the e-mail they discovered, that contains the following information: the leadership of “Nour al-Din az-Zenki” appealed to the Russian military for help to defeat HTS,” the report reads.

Originally, Nour al-Din al-Zenki was a part of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). However, the group separated from the HTS as a result as internal tensions in the alliance. Clashes between Nour al-Din al-Zenki and HTS had been repeatedly reported in 2017.

Photos of Nour al-Din al-Zenki fighters. Source: smmsyria.com

SMM Syria reports further:

A lot of various identity documents of militants were found in al-Zenki HQ. Cards of Liwa Rayat al-Islam members are the most remarkable find. “Liwa Rayat al-Islam” (Bride of Islam flag) is a group which belongs to HTS.

ID cards of HTS-affiliated Liwa Rayat al-Islam militants

It was not possible to pinpoint the location of the shooting place. But indirect evidence indicates that it was happening in Atarib town of Aleppo province.

Areas of al-Zenki presence in Northern Idlib and Southwestern Aleppo, dated on October 31

There is a letter in Cyrillic script among other documents.

Screenshot of the footage: e-mail correspondence between Nour al-Din al-Zenki and Russian military

“Know all the details of HTS supply routes. Do not risk your lives.”

Screenshot of the footage: satellite image of HTS positions

Russian jets regularly strike HTS positions in the provinces of Idlib and Hama. Thus Russian air forces eliminated a large number of terrorists, including high-ranking leaders and field commanders. Also the part of HTS military vehicles, supply routes and HQs were destroyed in Russian airstrikes.

Consequently, it is likely that the Russians were able to conduct a number of successful air raids in many ways thanks to their cooperation with representatives of Nour al-Din al-Zenki group.