ISIS ends when extremist factions in Syria’s northwest eliminated: Green Idlib Council
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – The Islamic State organization (ISIS) will continue to be active in the region, and its threat will extend to all parts of the world unless the Turkish-backed opposition factions present in northwest Syria which ISIS is hiding behind, are eliminated, and the sources of terrorism in the region are dried up, officials of the Green Idlib Council said on Wednesday.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front), which controls large areas, especially in the Idlib and Aleppo countryside, was formed in 2017, after the integration of several factions, the most prominent of which was the Fatah al-Sham Front, which was known as al-Nusra Front (one of al-Qaeda branches).
There are also other factions in the area affiliated with the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA).
“The factions that control the city of Idlib must be eliminated, and the source of terrorism must be dried up in order to get rid of the ISIS threat to the region and the whole world,” Haytham al-Abdullah, co-chair of the Green Idlib Council, said.
The Turkish forces controls regions of Idlib and Turkish Intelligence monitors events in the region. “They claim to fight terrorism and ISIS leaders in Idlib are under their watch, but they periodically invest the ISIS card,” according to al-Abdullah.
The international community is aware of the ISIS threat to the world and the region as a whole, “but most countries have interests in ISIS survival and continue to invest this card to achieve their political and economic interests,” he added.
“ISIS was eliminated in Idlib at the hands of the people of the region in 2014,” Ahmed Shawa, the relations official of the Green Idlib Council, said.
However, with the support of Turkish Intelligence, the extremist organizations were reformed, the most prominent of which were Suquor al-Sham, Ahrar al-Sham, and al-Nusra Front, at that time, according to Shawa.
Killing the leader of ISIS, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in Idlib, “is an evidence that Turkey rehabilitates the forces of terrorism and extremism whenever they are weak,” he added.
Turkey, according to Shawa, is trying to “revive these organizations to achieve its expansionist and aggressive goals in the region.”
Turkey provides military and security cover for these leaders so-called “emirs or caliphs”, to be the ones who order the operations and actions. This was proven by the recent events in al-Sina’a prison in Hasakah, he noted.
Having ISIS leaders under the direct auspices of Turkey, “is the main reason for these organizations to continue their attacks, despite all the military strikes directed to eliminate them,” Showa said.
“In order to avert the recurrence of terrorist attacks on northeast Syria and elsewhere, the terrorism in Idlib must be eliminated, ” Siham Jawish, head of the women’s office of the Green Idlib Council, said.
She called on the international community to intervene seriously and effectively “to eliminate this terrorism and the factions that adopt its ideology, which poses a threat to the entire world.”
On January 20, ISIS militants launched an attack on al-Sina’a prison, where thousands of extremist ISIS members were held.
In a battle that lasted for seven days in the neighborhoods surrounding the prison, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in cooperation with the Internal Security Forces of North and East Syria (Asayish), were able to confront that attack.