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On July 14, a new shadow group announced that it had assassinated a security commander of al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in Greater Idlib, directly challenging the terrorist group’s authority in the northwestern Syrian region.
In a Telegram post, the group, which calls itself the Revolution Shield Brigades (RSB), said that its fighters set up a fake checkpoint on Bab Al-Hawa highway in the northern Idlib countryside and killed HTS commander Ibrahim Mohamad al-Ali who was passing by.
A photo shared by the group showed the body of al-Ali, who was also known as Abu Shoieb Sarmada, lying on the ground near a sign with the old logo of the Free Syrian Army.
The RSB first emerged in late June amid a series of protests against HTS’ rule in Greater Idlib that was sparked by a series of arrests that targeted opponents of the terrorist group. In its first statement, the RSB called on HTS to release all prisoners from its jails in the region.
The assassination of al-Ali is the second attack against HTS to be claimed by the RSB. On June 30, the RSB released video footage documenting an attack by its fighters against a security center of the terrorist group near the town of Hezreh in the northwestern Idlib countryside. Six militants of HTS were allegedly killed in the attack.
It is possible that the RSB is linked to the Syrian National Faction, a coalition of Turkish-backed factions that rules Turkish-occupied areas in the northern Aleppo countryside next to Greater Idlib. Several factions from the coalition clashed with HTS last year after the terrorist group made attempts to expand its influence into their areas.
Surprisingly, the RSB appears to be mainly active in the northern and northwestern Idlib countryside, where HTS’ influence is thought to be the strongest.
HTS has been working to solidify its control over Greater Idlib since Russia and Turkey brokered a ceasefire in 2020 that put an end to Syrian ground operations in the region. Despite the presence of a large Turkish military force there, the terrorist group remains the de-facto ruler.
The RSB appears to be a credible threat to the terrorist group. However, it is not the first. In the last three years, HTS’s rule inGreater Idlib was challenged by many shadowy groups, some of which were said to be affiliated with ISIS.
Chaos will likely continue in Greater Idlib until it returns under government control. This will not be possible without an agreement between Ankara and Damascus, who are currently in talks to normalize relations.
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