Through its leadership in Afrin, Jaysh Al-Islam declares Kurds, Tahrir Al-Sham, and ISIS as its enemies, restructures its ranks and buys tens of vehicles

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights obtained information from reliable sources, about new movements of Jaysh Al-Islam in the Syrian North, after  its arrival in the past few weeks in the northern and north-eastern countryside of Aleppo and Afrin countryside, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory; the leader of Jaysh Al-Islam and commanders of the first rank of it, visited Dayr Ballut Camp in the south-western countryside of Afrin, today Wednesday the 16th of May 2018, and met with the displaced people in the Camp, where Abu Hammam al-Buwaydhani, the leader of Jaysh Al-Islam, and other commanders addressed them, telling the displaced people that they have 3 enemies which are the Kurds, Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham and the “Islamic State” organization, and that Jaysh Al-Islam intended to form a military force and restructure Jaysh Al-Islam and rearrange its ranks, to fight them, and the leadership of Jaysh Al-Islam gave salaries to its members who were affiliated to the army in the Eastern Ghouta and the south of Damascus, where 200 $ were given for each single fighter.

This visit is coincided with movements of Jaysh Al-Islam in Al-Bab area and the north-eastern countryside of Aleppo, where the Syrian Observatory monitored that Jaysh Al-Islam have bought tens of cars and vehicles, and established military headquarters in the outskirts of Al-Bab city, controlled by the Turkish forces, while the SOHR learned that a command of the faction of Ajnad al-Sham Islamic Union which about 1300 of its former members with their families of who were in Douma city and the Eastern Ghouta, have been displaced on the buses of a previous displacement batch, tended to invite the former members in its ranks, and the displaced people of the Eastern Ghouta, to join Ajnad al-Sham Islamic Union, in an attempt by the commanders of the factions, to revive the faction which was formerly affiliated to Al-Rahman Corps.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published yesterday that it obtained information from several reliable sources that one of the military faction of the Eastern Ghouta, had rearranged its ranks in Afrin area northwest of Aleppo Province, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: Rahman Corps led by Abdel Nasser Shammar and with the support of the Turkish authorities is repairing the headquarters of the Brigade 135 a few kilometers northeast of Afrin city, which used to be a camp for YPG.

Reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory that the restructuring of Rahman Corps, in addition to the repairing of the buildings of the Brigade 135, was conducted under the direct supervision of Abdel Nasser Shammar who defected of the regime forces, and holds the position of commander of Rahman Corps, where he gave his direct orders for repairing the headquarters of the brigade 135, after receiving the approval of the Turkish authorities, who have been controlling Afrin area completely since the 18th of March 2018, after a military operation under the name of “Olive Branch” carried out by the Turkish Forces and the Syrian opposition the rebel and Islamic factions, which began on the 20th of January 2018, during which hundreds of civilians and fighters were killed of the Kurdish Forces, the factions and the Turkish forces.

Also, Rahman Corps is trying to get its former members and the young people who were displaced from the Eastern Ghouta, to join a one-month duration military course organized by Rahman Corps, and according to the course they will join the ranks of Rahman Corps for a monthly salary of up to US $200, after handing over the Individual weapons. And the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published in the past few days that it has increased to 2500, the number of families which reached Afrin area controlled by the Turkish authorities and the “Euphrates Shield” Operation forces, and the intersected sources confirmed to the SOHR that more than 40% of the total number of people who have been resettled in Afrin, are families of fighters of the Eastern Ghouta’s factions, and the largest part is of families of Al-Rahman Corps’ fighters which have been displaced from the controlled areas of Al-Rahman Corps in Zamalka, Arbin and Jobar in the east of the capital Damascus and the south-western enclave of the Eastern Ghouta, according to the displacement deal between Al-Rahman Corps and Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham on one hand, and the Russians and representatives of the regime on the other, while the resettlement process is still continuing.

 Also, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights received on the 29th of April 2018 that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also obtained information from several reliable sources, who confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that meetings have been taking place since about 10 days until now; between the Turkish authorities and leadership of Rahman Corps, about new arrangements being prepared and agreed on in Afrin area, the sources confirmed to the Observatory that the meetings that took place between the military, security and Sharia leadership of Rahman Corps and some judges; are about Rahman Corps’ preparing to be given the command of the police of Afrin area, in addition to opening Sharia and religious centers and institutes, and to be run by the former judges and Sharia men of Rahman Corps, amid calls for the displaced people of the Eastern Ghouta to join the new police which will receive Afrin area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published a few weeks ago that the people who have been settled in Afrin included the leader of Al-Rahman Corps (Abdul Nasr Shamir), and tens of the commanders and members of Al-Rahman Corps with their families, while hundreds of citizens of Ghouta displaced people, refused to move from Idlib to Afrin explaining that they refuse to settle in houses of residents who were forces to leave their areas and houses, and the transfer of the displaced people and settling them down in Jandairis area and other areas in Afrin, is coincided with information about preparations for opening an unofficial border crossing between the Turkish forces’ controlled areas in Afrin, and Iskenderun, after establishing a local committee to control Jandairis area.

Also the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published afew weeks ago that a meeting took place between the leadership of Al-Rahman Corps presented in the Syrian North and the Turkish intelligence, preparing for settling the fighters of Al-Rahman Corps and their families as well as other displaced people from the Eastern Ghouta, in Afrin area in the north-western part of Aleppo province, where the SOHR documented yesterday that the Turkish authorities transferred more than 150 families of the displaced people from the Eastern Ghouta and repatriate them in Afrin area, where these families settled in houses whose owners were displaced from as result of the attack of the Turkish forces and the Syrian opposition factions participating in “Olive Branch” Operation which started on the 20th of January 2018. The SOHR confirmed that the families are displaced people from areas controlled by Al-Rahman Corps and they arrived to the Syrian north in March, and in the same context, the same sources confirmed to the SOHR that many displaced people from the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus refused to settle in Afrin. They refused during talks held by the displaced people of the Eastern Ghouta on their settlement in houses in Afrin area, where the Turkish forces provide them houses owned by people displaced from Afrin. The displaced people of the Eastern Ghouta expressed their resentment of this decision imposed by the Turkish authorities on the displaced people of Ghouta, through carrying out an organized demographic change by settling the displaced people of the Eastern Ghouta in houses owned by the displaced people of Afrin. They said that refuse any demographic change carried out by the regime forces and Russian in their areas which they left after violent shelling which left about 1800 civilian martyrs and more than 6 thousand injured.

The reliable sources also confirmed to the Syrian Observatory in the first half of April 2018 that hundreds of Al-Rahman Corps’ fighters have surrendered to the regime forces, in the wake of the departure of the convoys of Al-Rahman Corps’ fighters with their families and citizens who reject the agreement, and in the details obtained by the Syrian Observatory; the total number of the fighters and commanders who have surrendered to the regime forces, approximated 1200 fighters and leaders, as groups of Al-Rahman Corps’ members have surrendered sequentially, where the sources confirmed to the SOHR that about 800 fighters mostly are of the security groups operating within Al-Rahman Corps, including groups and battalions commanders, surrendered to the regime forces in conjunction with the departure of the convoys from the Eastern Ghouta, according to the agreement of Zamalka – Jobar – Arbin, where these groups were the security pillar of Al-Rahman Corps, which the corps depended on, in the operations of the internal fighting in the Eastern Ghouta, with Jaysh Al-Islam and Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, also about 320 fighters of those stationed on the contact lines and fronts with the regime forces and their allies of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities, surrendered after the departure of all convoys from the former controlled areas of Al-Rahman Corps in the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus, in Jisrayn, Hamouriyah, Arbin, Kafr Batna, Saqba and Jobar, and the Syrian Observatory learned that one of the field commanders who confronted a large attack by the regime forces in 2017 when they carried out a violent attack on Ein Tarma area, has surrendered to the regime forces with more than 40 of his members, and the reliable sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that most of the members who have surrendered to the regime, turned into “popular committees” operating within the ranks of the regime forces, and the members who have surrendered, included groups commanders, prison chiefs, and battalions and brigades commanders in Al-Rahman Corps, where they joined the forces of the 4th Division and the Republican Guard and other bodies affiliated to the regime, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 19th of March 2018, that groups of Al-Rahman Corps, turned into popular committees operating with the regime forces, in the area used to be controlled by Al-Rahman Corps and which the regime forces advanced into, in the south-western enclave of the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus, and it monitored clashes against fighters in the corps in the contact areas between these committees and the members of the latter.