8 assassinations targeted members of Hurras al-Dien organization, Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham and Jaysh al-Nukhba in the past 24 hours in Idlib province
Idlib Province – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: the sound of an explosion and gunfire was heard in Kafr Takharim area, which is located in the north-western sector of Idlib countryside, caused by a new attack by unidentified gunmen believed to be cells of the “Islamic State” organization, where the gunmen targeted a checkpoint of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, which resulted in the death of 2 members, raising to at least 8, the number of people assassinated today, Monday the 20th of August 2018, they are: two of Hurras al-Dien Organization, 3 members of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, and 3 fighters of Jaysh al-Nukhba, thus, it rose to at least 278, the number of people who were assassinated in Idlib countryside and both Aleppo and Hama countryside, they are the wife of an Uzbek commander and his son, in addition to 55 civilians including 8 children and 6 women, of who were assassinated through bomb explosions, IED detonations, shooting, abduction, murder and then throwing the bodies in remote areas, and 192 fighters of Syrian nationality belong to Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, al-Sham Corps, the Islamic Movement of Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Izza, and other factions operating in Idlib, and 29 fighters of Uzbek, Asian, Gulf, Jordanian and Caucasian nationalities have been assassinated in the same ways since the 26th of April 2018, also the assassination attempts have injured tens of people with varying severity, while the factions stepped up their raids and operations against sleeper cells they accused of belonging to the “Islamic State” organization.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored on the 18th of August 2018, Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham executing six young men, of who were arrested on charges of “belonging to cells of the Islamic State organization”, which carried out tens of assassinations, killed and wounded hundreds of fighters, civilians and Syrian and non-Syrian leaders, where the Observatory monitored their execution by shooting them collectively after accusing them of “planting explosive devices and killing Muslims”. This execution comes in a continuation of executions that targeted tens of people who were arrested by Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, some of them were executed immediately after being arrested and others were executed after interrogation, while some were killed during the clashes when raiding headquarters of these cells which belong to the “Islamic State” organization, and with the execution and death of more cells members of the organization it rose to 72 at least, the number of members of ISIS and these cells who have been killed since the end of April 2018, of Syrian, Iraqi, and other non-Syrian nationalities, including at least 35 who were executed through slaughter or direct gunfire after capturing them, while the rest were killed during raids and exchange of gunfire between these cells and members of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham in the areas of Salqin, Sarmin, Sahel al-Rouj and several other areas in the countryside of Idlib, also, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored that Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham and other factions are continuing to carry out security operations, through which they aim to arrest and detect “sleeper cells” responsible for the assassinations, which included the execution of 4 members of these cells, and they were beheaded in a response to the execution and murder of tens of commanders and members of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, civilians citizens, and fighters of various Syrian and non-Syrian factions, while these escalated murders coincided with massive assassinations which caused chaos and insecurity in Idlib province and in the areas adjacent to it from the north and central of Syria, which raised the citizens’ resentment because of the inability of the factions to control the security and prevent these assassinations from happening again.