...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group, killed in a US raid, lived in an area under its control.
IS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi went
kaboom!Thursday during the nighttime raid on his house in Syria's northwest region of Idlib, which is mostly dominated by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else
...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State...(HTS) jihadist group, an IS rival.
"We were not aware of such an operation before it happened," HTS said in a statement, adding that it was also unaware of "the identity of the residents" of the house that was targeted by US special forces.
"We condemn this (US) operation," the group added, saying it would continue to "fight against vices and crime".
HTS occasionally carries out operations against IS-affiliated cells in the region -- Syria's last main jihadist and rebel bastion, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The war monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said HTS had fought armed jihadists affiliated to IS in recent months.
HTS controls around half of Idlib province as well as slivers of territory in the neighboring provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.
In recent years, HTS has tried to cast itself as a more moderate player focused only on Syrian matters and condemning international terrorism.
The Idlib area is the last enclave to actively oppose the government of Bashir al-Assad.
Related:
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi: 2021-07-06 ISIS suspect arrested over planned attack on Erbil: security council
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi: 2020-05-21 Iraq security forces arrest the new ISIS leader
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi: 2019-11-01 Iraq ready to bring ISIS members once active on its soil to justice: FM
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi: 2021-07-06 ISIS suspect arrested over planned attack on Erbil: security council
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi: 2020-05-21 Iraq security forces arrest the new ISIS leader
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi: 2019-11-01 Iraq ready to bring ISIS members once active on its soil to justice: FM