HTS ignites a new conflict in the north in an attempt to cover its losses
Latakia – North-Press Agency
The ongoing conflict between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) (formerly al-Nusra Front) and the gunmen of Kafr Takharim town in Idlib northwestern countryside dominates the scene inside areas controlled by the Syrian armed opposition groups in northern Syria.
The defeated HTS in the battles of northern Hama countryside, Khan Shaykhoun and threatened by Sochi agreement, seeks to regain its respect and cover its losses.
Abu Muhammad al-Jawlani-led HTS, who's the number one wanted after the killing of al-Baghdadi, is deployed over more than 60 percent of northern Syria from southern Aleppo countryside, Idlib city and countryside to Jisr al-Shughour, as well as parts of northern Latakia countryside, where they share control between Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) and Uyghur jihadist groups.
Al-Jawlani seeks to impose a fait accompli on the civilians there through extending his group, especially since Sochi agreement requires the removal of the armed opposition groups from civilian areas and handing over their weapons.
The agreement tried to sort out the so-called Turkish affiliated armed militants and the terrorist groups, but up till now, months after this agreement, these groups did not comply with it. On the contrary trying to impose their influence and control over the civilians, who appears to be a new source of income for HTS, by imposing taxes and charges on the population there, which fuels internal conflicts with the other groups.
A reality that will not last long, HTS is divided between two axis, one tries to control and stretch its internal expansion and the second axis tries to prevent the advance of the Syrian government forces, where HTS continue mobilizing to launch a battle to retake Idlib, which the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has described as the advanced outpost. While the supporting forces for these groups are trying to disperse the military capabilities of the Syrian government forces in order to hold papers which may help its supporters in negotiations and political agreements.
The conflict cannot be sustained in light of the international changes and fluctuations in the region, despite the attempts of the Turkish-backed groups to destabilize the safety of civilians in northern Syria by firing indiscriminate rockets towards Aleppo and areas adjacent to fighting lines in northern Hama, and the ongoing clashes with the Syrian government forces north of Latakia.
However, the follower of the situation in general could confirm that the northern groups throw their last papers to succeed with their supporters to hold a new negotiating paper contributes to the adjustment of the situation in their favor.
Yet the data on the ground does not contribute to that, since the decision was made and it is a matter of time to end this phenomenon in the Syrian society in general.