The Hayat Tahrir al-Cham (HTS) group said on Sunday that it was unaware that Abu Ibrahim al-Hachimi al-Qourachi lived in this area before he was killed in an American raid.
The group Hayat Tahrir al-Cham (HTS), a former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda which dominates the Idleb region (north-west), said on Sunday that it was unaware that the leader of the rival group Islamic State ( EI) lived in this area before he was killed in an American raid.
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ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hachimi al-Qurachi was killed Thursday by US special forces in a building where he lived in Atme, Idleb province, the last major jihadist and rebel stronghold in Syria. . “We were not aware of such an operation before it happened“, said the jihadist group HTS in a press release this Sunday evening, adding that they were unaware “the identity of the residents of the place (referred to)“.
“We condemn this operation“, said the group, while specifying that it will continue to “fight against vices and crimesfrom IS. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), HTS occasionally conducts operations against IS-affiliated cells in the northwestern region of Syria, nearly half of which are under their control.
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In recent months, HTS has fought armed jihadists affiliated with IS, especially in the southern countryside and in the southwest of Idleb, indicates the OSDH, which has an extensive network of sources in the country. . In addition to part of the province of Idlib, HTS controls segments of the neighboring provinces of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia. The region, one of the last pockets outside Damascus’ control, is also home to rebel groups and other jihadist formations allied to HTS, including Houras al-Din.
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