IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Though announcing it had withdrawn from Afrin, north Syria, proper after gaining control over it in mid-October, military sources affirm that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front), still exists in areas surreptitiously while in others dressed in allied factions’ uniform.
A military source affiliated with the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) said, “HTS kept hundreds of its militants in Afrin and its countryside in the uniform of “Ahrar al-Sham, Hamza Division and Sultan Suleiman Shah faction which supported HTS against the Third Legion which withdrew from Afrin to Azaz its main bastion.”
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, indicated that HTS’ militants deploy in the old customs square and in headquarters of the Third Legion (a faction affiliated with SNA) in the two villages of Kurzeleh and Tirenda in the countryside of Afrin in addition to the camps of Ahrar al-Sham in Ain Dara and Lilon Mountain area that extends from Hirsh al-Khalidiya and Deir Meshmesh, Maryamin up to the villages of Julbul and its forests.
In the meantime, the Third Legion refuses to return to its offices in Afrin and Jindires as long HTS remains in the region, according to the military source.
On October 11, HTS attacked, in cooperation with Hamza division and Sultan Suleiman Shah faction, areas under the Third Legion (made up of Levant Front and Jaish al-Islam), its spearhead in Afrin.
Afrin, a Kurdish city in the north of Aleppo, has been under the occupation of Turkey since March 2018 following a military operation “Olive Branch” which resulted in the displacement of about 300.000 people of the original inhabitants of the city and its countryside.
On the following day, HTS controlled the city of Afrin and the Jindires besides tens of villages in the countryside of the city under the clock of “repelling offences” from the part of the Third Legion against Hamza Division on the back of killing a media activist and his pregnant wife in the city of al-Bab in far east of Aleppo countryside.
On October 21, HTS withdrew its forces and its heavy weaponry from Kafr Janneh, Afrin and Jindires towards its areas of control in Idlib, following a Turkish deployment in the region.
However, observers believe that was a pro forma withdrawal imposed by Turkey following international reactions rejecting extension of al-Nusra Front in northern Aleppo.
Raids carried out by HTS militants last week in the neighborhood of al-Ashrafiya in Afrin substantiates HTS did not withdraw from Afrin.
An exclusive source told North Press that HTS raided houses of the Third Legion. On the same day, HTS militants raided a squatter camp close to the Kawa Roundabout in the city center while they were chasing three militants of the Third Legion, according to the same source.
The military source’s read of the event is that Turkish forces used HTS to advance in Afrin to press factions of the SNA notably the Third Legion close to “US and Saudi intelligence services” after holding meetings to form a new military opposition formation in northern Syria supported by the US
Consequently, Turkey’s fears grew which in turn threatened Levant Front and Jaish al-Islam to be dissolved proper via HTS.
In September, According to the Lebanese al-Akhbar, a newspaper affiliated with the Syrian government, quoting opposition field sources as saying the new project of creating a new military formation comes “as a response to endeavors by the US in creating an appropriate ground to develop investments aiming at reviving the region within a broader scheme to establish the current de facto control and to abort the Astana Peace Talks.”
On October 19, HTS announced “suspicious connection” by the Third Legion represented in Levant Legion and Jaish al-Islam with external powers “hostile to the revolution.”
According to the military source, the HTS withdrawal from Afrin followed a meeting between the Turkish forces and the Third Legion leadership in Kafr Janneh in east of Afrin.
Turkey bound the Third Legion to cut connection with external powers in an indication to the US and Saudi Arabia to remain in Azaz and the eventual return to Afrin in the weeks to follow.
The Moscow-based Syrian political analyst Nasser al-Youssef and academician and political analyst Mahmoud Hamza believe Turkey forced HTS to withdraw, fearing Russian bombardment of the whole area.
While military and political researcher Wael Ilwan told North Press that HTS surreptitiously kept security groups within allied groups in the area the most notable are Sultan Suleiman Shah, Hamza Division and Ahrar al-Sham.
He indicates the HTS utilized the opportunity of the fighting between the Third Legion and its allies on one hand and aHamza Division on the other to enter areas under the Turkish-backed SNA.