Tahrir al-Sham Takes 184 Hostages
The Levant Liberation Committee, also known as Tahrir al-Sham, hold two-third of the Idlib Province and have arrested 184 people mostly comprised of aid workers and activists. The aggressive tactics have breached a previous brokered deal with Russia and Turkey, who are battling the Jihadist groups in the country. The Human Rights Observatory had announced the Salafist group has also killed 5 civilians. “We recorded a significant escalation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham violations in north Syria, where the group has raided a number of villages and arrested dozens of individuals, including local activists, relief workers and mosque preachers,” the Observatory said in a 10-page report. Tahrir al-Sham formed in January 2017, when Jihadist cells such as Al Nusra, Jaysh al-Sunna and Liwa al-Haqq dissolved and formed one large conglomerate.
Despite its inception, the Tahrir al-Sham have been regularly accused of as being a close ally of Al Qaeda. The group denies the claim, however other countries taking part in the Syria front-lines disagree. Russia also claims that Tahrir al-Sham shares al-Nusra Front’s goal of turning Syria into an Islamic emirate run by al-Qaeda.
Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad had met with Russian foreign ministers and heads of the military to discuss the forward plans to eliminate what is left of the Jihadist groups located in Idlib and Middle Euphrates River. As Jihadist groups continue to battle on, in a looming doom scenario which has witnessed their groups decline drastically in the last 6 months.
