Members of HTS beat IDP north of Syria’s Idlib
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) — Yesterday, an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) from Hama western countryside was rushed into a hospital after having been beat up by members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front).
Eyewitnesses told North Press that a group of HTS members in the HTS-backed Watad Petroleum company assaulted the man “because he was smuggling diesel in the Atma area, north of Idlib.”
The man hailed from the town of Qalaat al-Madiq town, west of Hama, they added.
He was heavily bruised due to the beating, and was hospitalized to the Turkey-bordering Bab al-Hawa hospital to receive the proper treatment, they noted.
The eyewitnesses said that the beating was ordered by Qutayba, a leader in HTS who hails from al-Sayad village in Hama northern countryside.
Dozens of people, most of whom are women and children living in IDPs camps north Idlib, work in diesel smuggling from Afrin countryside to HTS-held areas in Idlib, as the latter monopolizes the fuel market and prohibits its trading.