The insurgent-held areas of Idlib and its environs in northwest Syria continue to be dominated by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, whose core of Jabhat al-Nusra originated as an affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq before declaring itself an al-Qa'ida affiliate and then breaking ties with al-Qa'ida in forming Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham in January 2017. In turn, this hegemonic approach leads to conflict between Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and more independent-minded groups and individuals, especially those that feel Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham has deviated from an ideologically purist Islamic line in favour of 'nationalist' sentiment. For its part, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham treats such groups and individuals as 'threats' to 'public security/public order.'
One such group that has been at odds with Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham is the French group Firqat-ul-Ghuraba (/Firqatul-Ghuraba; see my interview with the group in 2020), which is not currently affiliated with any particular faction on the insurgent scene. However, in January 2023, one of its fighters- Abu Hamza- was killed as a 'martyr' on the military frontlines in the Jabal al-Zawiya area in south Idlib. According to what Firqat-ul-Ghuraba told me, Abu Hamza was born in Nice in France in 1994 to an Algerian father and a French mother. He worked in construction and electricity before arriving in Syria in Ramadan 2017, being part of Firqat-ul-Ghuraba from the outset. He was a sniper and had several other responsibilities in installing surveillance materials. He fought in Ma'an in Hama province and performed frontline manning duties in Jabal al-Turkoman and Jabal al-Akrad (Latakia) and Aleppo province. He was eventually killed by a bullet in the head, being at the time in the ranks of the independent jihadist group Ansar al-Tawhid (which is tolerated by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham).
More recently though, Firqat-ul-Ghuraba has released a statement condemning Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham for arresting a certain member of its group called 'Abu Siddiq', which I translate from the original French below.
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