Tahrir al-Sham takes advantage of Idlib ceasefire to restructure, reorganize

Mustafa Kamel

At a time when the Idlib region is witnessing a ceasefire in what is known as the “de-escalation zone”, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), led by Abu Mohammad al-Julani, has begun to exploit the situation by restructuring, with a change in leadership, in addition to the introduction of a number of new brigades operating within its ranks in Idlib.

At the same time, HTS has been directly threatening Turkish soldiers with beheadings on the international Aleppo-Latakia road leading to Idlib as soon as they entered the city with their military convoys.

Internal changes

The HTS faction led by Julani has been taking several internal decisions, including changing its internal structure. It introduced the new structure through its social media pages and appointed Abu Khaled al-Shami as a leader.

In the new structure, HTS has created several brigades operating within its ranks in the city of Idlib, which has been witnessing a ceasefire since March 15. The terrorist militia took advantage of the current situation there to create five new brigades named after Companions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The new brigades are respectively led by Abu Hafs Binnish, Abu Mohammed Shura, Abu Bakr Muheen, Abdullah Mansour and Abu Qutaiba al-Shami.

Turks in the crosshairs

HTS militants have issued direct threats to behead Turkish soldiers in the Idlib countryside, where elements of the terrorist organization are present on the international Aleppo-Latakia road from the side of the town of Neirab, east of Idlib.

A video clip was released showing a number of HTS militants standing behind a Turkish convoy and Turkish soldiers in the de-escalation zone, with a voice threatening the Turks, “We love you, and God willing we will affix your heads here on this road. We won’t take them with us, don’t worry.”