Yesterday, in Darat Izza town of Idlib, a clash took place between al-Qaida offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the jihadist Nour al-Din al-Zenki under the umbrella of the Turkish-controlled "National Liberation Front". The battle is said to have been triggered by the abduction of three people from HTS by the latter.

Nour al-Din al-Zenki received reinforcements from other militias in Afrin while the Turkish secret service tried to mobilize the population against HTS. This incident is said to be the reason for the ensuing conflict where HTS killed two people from Nour al-Din al-Zenki.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was established under the lead of Jabhat Al-Nusra from the groups that opposed the Astana talks launched by guarantors Turkey, Russia and Iran in early 2017, is on both the US’ and Russia’s list of terrorist organizations.

Accompanied by HTS, Turkey officially entered Idlib on 8 October 2017 with the propaganda “We are conducting an operation on Idlib”. After the Idlib operation came to the agenda and as a result of deals made with Russia, Turkey included HTS in its list of terrorist organizations on August 31, 2018.

Nour al-Din al-Zenki itself is also a split-off from HTS and is known worldwide for war crimes such as the execution of children.

Meanwhile, Nour al-Din al-Zenki is completely under the control of the Turkish state and is part of the "National Liberation Front" that Turkey founded from eleven militia groups on August 1, 2018. The militia of this alliance recognized the Sochi agreement, but declared that they will not lay down their arms.