HTS’ al-Golani meets with dismissed leader of SNA faction in Syria’s Idlib
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – The leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Abu Mohammad al-Golani met on Wednesday with Amer al-Sheikh, the dismissed leader of Ahrar al-Sham, a faction affiliated with the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), a day after his dismissal.
An HTS military source told North Press that a meeting was held at the Bab al-Hawa border-crossing, north of Idlib city, between al-Golani, al-Sheikh and his deputy Abu Mohammad al-Shami, who is now the leader of the Ahrar al-Sham “coup movement”.
The source added that al-Golani expressed his full support to the movement.
On Tuesday, five brigades of Ahrar al-Sham announced dismissing the group’s leader Amer al-Sheikh and designating Youssef al-Hamwi, nicknamed Abu Suliman, as a general commander.
The HTS took over SNA-held areas in Aleppo northern countryside in October under the pretext of breaking up internal-clashes between different Turkish-backed factions. On October 10, fierce clashes took place between the SNA’s Hamza Division and Levant Front after the first assassinated a media activist called Abu Ghannoum and his pregnant wife in the city of al-Bab, northern Syria.
New rifts have been coming out since the assassination of Abu Ghannoum, with the factions of Hamza and al-Amshat taking the HTS side against the Third Legion, while Hayat Thaeroon for Liberation remained neutral.