News / Syria

Infighting between two terrorist groups leaves dozens dead in Syria

Tuesday, 14 February 2017 3:15 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 14 February 2017 3:31 PM ]

Militants from the Jaish al-Fatah Takfiri terrorist group sit in the back of a truck as they take part in an assault on Syrian government forces west of Aleppo city, October 28, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Nearly 70 foreign-backed militants have been killed during a fresh wave of infighting that erupted between two rival Takfiri terrorist groups over influence in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, says a UK-based monitoring group.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Tuesday that the clashes broke out between the two previously allied groups of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, and Jund al-Aqsa, suspected of having links to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, during the previous 24 hours.

It further said the fighting flared when Jund al-Aqsa’s militants carried out a bomb attack against a Fateh al-Sham headquarters in the provincial capital, Idlib, killing at least nine terrorists, adding that the ensuing heavy clashes as well as executions killed 60 terrorists from both sides.

"There are battles between warlords, it's a war for influence," said the observatory’s director, Rami Abdel Rahman, adding that the infighting was spreading to the neighboring Hama province.

The Saudi-backed militant alliance of Jaish al-Fatah, led by Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, has almost been entirely in control of Idlib province for the past year.

A militant from the Jund al-Aqsa Takfiri terrorist group, raises a flag after taking control of the northern Syrian town of Tayyibat al-Imam, northwest of Hama, August 31, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Last month, Fateh al-Sham terrorists engaged in another fighting with other militant factions in the province during 10 days of clashes, which killed dozens of militants. Battles among terrorist groups in Idlib province reflect growing deterioration in their mutual relations and straying from their once sole goal of war against Damascus.

For nearly six years, Syria has been fighting foreign-sponsored militancy. United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimated in August last year that more than 400,000 people had been killed in the crisis until then. The UN stopped its official casualty count in the war-torn country, citing its inability to verify the figures it received from various sources.

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