HTS takes full control of Jindires district in Syria’s Afrin
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized on Wednesday Jindires district, in Afrin countryside in northern Syria, following fierce clashes with armed factions of the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA).
A local source told North Press, “The clashes started at 04:30 pm and ended around 06:00 pm, after the HTS took full control of the town reaching to the livestock Souk.”
The SNA factions has been fighting each other for days following the assassination of media activist Abu Ghannoum and his wife by Hamza Division faction in al-Bab city in Aleppo eastern countryside, northern Syria.
The source added, “The HTS used foreign militants in its operation to take control of Jindires.”
The source said that the HTS captured Kafr Safra and Jindires coming from the axis of Salwa village in Aleppo northern countryside.
He continued, “The HTS arrested 15 members of the Levant Front and killed three of them as well, but the rest of the latter’s militants withdrew towards the city of Afrin.”
The source said, “The SNA factions of al-Sham Legion, al-Zenki, al-Amshat and Ahrar al-Sham began to support the HTS by closing roads and preparing to hand over their areas to it, given the fact that they are allies to the HTS.”
The SNA were divided between the factions that support the Hamza Division – represented by the factions of Sultan Murad (al-Amshat) and Liwa Suqour al-Shamal – and those against Hamza, which are the Levant Front and Ahrar al-Sharqiya.