Blast of HTS explosive factory leaves casualties in Syria’s Idlib
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – On Wednesday evening, a militant operating within the military engineering of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) was killed and three others were wounded in an explosion of a warehouse for manufacturing explosives near the city of Jisr al-Shughur in the western countryside of Idlib, northwest Syria.
Exclusive military sources told North Press that the explosion took place due to a mistake while preparing the filling for a manual artillery shell, resulting in the explosion of the rest of the manufactured projectiles and the raw explosives.
The explosion also caused destruction to more than half of the factory.
The sources added that the explosion also killed “Abu Farhan Tafkhikh,” specialized in weapons manufacturing and combinations, and wounded three of his assistances amid blackout by the HTS regarding information related to the explosion.
Early in March, a factory for manufacturing IEDs, belonging to Ansar al-Tawhid, a faction affiliated with the HTS, near Ma’arat Misrin in Idlib northern countryside. Two militants, who operated in the factory, were killed and a third was wounded, while the HTS announced that one militant was wounded only.
Sources from the HTS said at the time that the explosion took place due to a technical mistake.
The HTS, founded in 2017, controls Idlib and the western countryside of Aleppo, using the Salvation Government as a political and administrative umbrella since.