As part of its consolidation of authority and power in northwest Syria (the region of Idlib and its environs), Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham has sought to make the "al-Fath al-Mubin Operations Room" (which it leads) the sole avenue by which factions can combine efforts and resources and undertake military operations. The notable exceptions appear to be some smaller jihadist groups (e.g. Ansar al-Tawheed, Ansar al-Islam and others) that are given approval by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham to operate in a completely independent capacity: that is, without forming separate operations rooms. These smaller factions are thus effectively allowed to engage in frontline manning and their own tit-for-tat skirmishes with the Syrian government and its allies without bringing about a collapse of the broader ceasefire arrangement that was negotiated between Turkey and Russia and has been in place since spring 2020.

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Just days ago I documented the killing of Turki Bayas and his wife who are of the original Druze inhabitants of the Jabal al-Summaq area in Idlib. I documented Turki's life based on local testimony and noted that there was doubt that the killing was simply a criminal act driven by a desire to commit robbery. I suggested that one possibility was that the killer was of those who declare takfir on the original Druze inhabitants (despite the announced conversion to Sunni Islam) and thus deem it permissible to rob them, attack them and kill them. I offered a similar suggestion in relation to the killing of Hikmat Haddad from the nearby village of Kukku a few weeks earlier.

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Only three weeks or so after the murder of Hikmat Haddad who was from the village of Kukku in the originally Druze area of Jabal al-Summaq, another murder has taken place in the same region, this time in the village of Kaftin (which lies on the plain of Jabal al-Summaq). The murder victims were an individual called Turki Bayas (Abu Markaz) and his wife (Huda Dhibar). Here I will present some details on Turki's life.

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It is widely recognised that the remaining 'opposition'-held areas of northern Syria (parts of Idlib and its environs, north Aleppo countryside from Afrin to Jarabulus, and the enclave from Tel Abyad to Ras al-Ayn) primarily owe their survival to the presence of Turkish forces on the ground and supply links with Turkey through the border crossings. There is also Turkish support in varying degrees for more 'moderate' armed formations, which have either become part of the three legions of the 'Syrian National Army' or have joined the 'National Front for Liberation' that serves as a junior partner of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham in Idlib and its environs. Turkey also works with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham as part of enforcing the ceasefire arrangement with Russia in the area of Idlib and its environs.

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In the originally Druze area of Jabal al-Summaq in north Idlib countryside, one of the more controversial issues is the settlement of 'muhajireen' (i.e. foreigners who came to Syria on the insurgent side) in homes that have been confiscated from original inhabitants who have left the area. Besides the issue of fairness with regards to the settlement of these foreigners in these homes, there is also the problem of how some or many these foreigners interact with both the remaining original inhabitants and Syrian IDPs who have come to the area.

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