Hayat Tahrir al-Sham arrests ISIS militants in Syria’s Idlib
(North Press) – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) announced on Saturday the arrest of a number of Islamic State (ISIS) agents in Idlib Governorate, northwestern Syria.
HTS launched raids, carrying out arrests of people it says belong to ISIS, even executing some of these alleged ISIS members.
A military source told North Press that the security apparatus of HTS raided two caves occupied by ISIS – one of them near the city of Idlib, and the second in the city of Darkush in its western countryside.
Numerous human rights and press reports confirm that the areas of Operations Peace Spring and Olive Branch (Turkish-backed invasions and occupations of northern Syria’s Sere Kaniye and Afrin regions), as well as Idlib, have turned into a haven for leaders and members of ISIS after its military defeat in early 2019.
The Global Coalition previously carried out an airdrop operation that killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, in a town that close to the Turkish border.
The Global Coalition targeted both the spokesman of ISIS, Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir, and media official Ahmed al-Mustafa, in the Jarabulus countryside in the Euphrates Shield areas controlled by Turkey.
The source added that the security apparatus arrested a number of ISIS cells after sporadic clashes with them in the area.
Earlier, sources reported that Turkey is trying to pressure HTS with the aim of presenting itself as a moderate faction, but it is doing so gradually, slowly, and unannounced.
Idlib governorate witnessed several bombings and assassinations of members and officials of HTS, which accused the ISIS of being behind them.