As Syrian President Bashar al-Assad seeks to reassert his authority in Idlib, the only remaining Province in Syria where his forces have almost no presence, he may be aided there by deep fractures within al-Qaeda, which dominates the region.
A recent wave of detentions and a spate of violence within al-Qaeda have also raised fears of an all-out war between insurgents in the heavily populated Province near Turkey as Mr. Assad’s forces make their push.
Tensions inside Idlib have been on the rise for months, reflecting a power struggle between hard-line foreign fighters loyal to al-Qaeda’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, and its more moderate Syrian members. The tensions worsened in late November after a wave of detentions by an al-Qaeda-linked group against more extremist, mostly non-Syrian members.
The detentions, ordered by Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Haya’at Tahrir al Sham (HTS), were the clearest indication yet of the sharp divisions within the international terror network. They also come as al-Golani appears to be edging closer to Turkey.
Ahmad Hamade, a Syrian Army colonel who defected early in the conflict, said that HTS is more tolerated in northern Syria. In fact, many HTS fighters were members of the Free Syrian Army, the mainstream rebels fighting to topple Mr. Assad, he said.
Asad Kanjo, an opposition activist from Idlib who currently lives in Britain, said that the divisions within al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria are the result of al-Golani trying to market himself as a Syrian leader who has no links to the international terror network.
“This is a purely Turkish move. Turkey wants the Syrian branch (HTS) to cut all links with the international organisation,” Mr. Kanjo said, paving the way for al-Golani to join the political process.
