HTS executes foreign, Syrian ex-members
IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front) executed, on Sunday, eight former members in an infamous prison under its control in Idlib, northwestern Syria.
The extrajudicial execution was carried out at Prison 107, managed by the HTS’ General Security Apparatus, without clarifying the reasons for their arrest and execution.
A source in the prison told North Press that Abu Mohammad al-Julani, HTS’ leader, suddenly ordered executing the eight persons without a verdict from the court.
Abu Muhammad al-Azari, Abu Abdullah al-Russi, Abu Layth al-Azari, Sayf al-Din al-Filastini, Abu Zayd al-Masri, with three young men from the eastern countryside of Hama, were executed. The detainees’ relatives were notified after midnight, he added.
The source noted that the firing squad conducted the execution. The bodies of the foreigners will be buried, whereas the bodies of the Syrians will be handed over to their relatives after 72 hours of the execution.
The detainees were previously in the General Security Apparatus of the HTS since 2017.
In a previous report, a military source of HTS’ Red Bands, one of the most brutal faction in its ranks, told North Press that there are between 900 and 1,200 foreign fighters within the HTS ranks from Chechnya, Tajikistan, and East Turkestan [China], in addition to Moroccans, Algerians, Libyans and several from Iraq and Egypt.