More Details About ISIS Presence In Idlib And Northern Hama
On October 9, ISIS members attacked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) in northern Hama and seized a number of villages near the important village of Rahjan.
For some observers this situation looked strange because ISIS and ISIS-affiliated groups had been rarely seen in maps and news reports about the situation in Idlib, southern Aleppo and northern Hama.
However, the video above shows a detained ISIS security chief in Idlib, Abu Sulayman.
He revealed that about 900 ISIS militants remain in Idlib province. Sulayman said that paying money to the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leadership, ISIS was able to supply its members in the “opposition-held area”. A part of ISIS forces in Idlib province is members of Jund al-Aqsa that has pledged allegiance to ISIS.
Separately, Islamic World News also reported that about 200 militants affilated with ISIS sneaked from eastern Salamiyah to northern Hama in September 2017. These militants were members of the Davood Brigade and Jund al-Aqsa.
A notable number of ISIS members still remains surrounded by government forces in a pocket east of Salamiyah. These militants will likely continue attempts to sneak to the area captured by ISIS in nortern Hama.
Translation provided by SouthFront
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