Nusra Front, FSA group at war again in Idlib province

In a statement issued Wednesday, the Al-Qaeda affiliate said the Hazm Movement, one of several dozen rebel groups that have received weaponry and training from Washington, was now a “direct target.”
 
An anti-regime activist based in Aleppo said that the situation now looked set to deteriorate markedly.
 
“These problems aren’t going to go away overnight,” he said. “There was supposed to be an agreement, to take their problems to a neutral court. But the kidnappings have continued.”
 
Tension between the two groups has erupted periodically over the last three months. In November, Nusra Front fighters ejected another FSA group, the Syria Rebel Front, from its strongholds in Idlib province, capitalizing on the militia’s reputation for heavy-handed behavior with locals.
 
The Hazm Movement, also with a presence in Idlib and next-door Aleppo province, was caught up in that round of clashes and lost territory to the Nusra Front and its allies.
 
In January, clashes again erupted between the Nusra Front and Hazm in both Idlib and Aleppo, and were punctuated by the Nusra Front’s reported killing of a Saudi national – dispatched by the Ahrar al-Sham Islamist militia as a mediator.
 
When the Nusra Front seemed poised to mount an all-out campaign against Hazm, the FSA group sought political refuge in the arms of the Shamiah Front, an alliance of mainly Islamist militias with a large presence in the city and province of Aleppo.
 
When the Shamiah Front openly embraced Hazm as its newest member on Jan. 31, Nusra was forced to back down.
 
But in the latest round of tension and violence, Nusra said the Shamiah Front was unable to rein in the FSA group.
 
“No action to accept Hazm [into the ranks of another group] will be accepted from now on, especially since its crimes against the mujahedeen have not ceased since it joined the Shamiah Front,” the Nusra Front statement said.
 
It accused Hazm of kidnapping Abi Issa al-Tabqa, the emir of Nusra in the Syrian desert area called the “badiya,” as well as three other members of Nusra and a fourth man, responsible for a religious affairs office.
 
Nusra said it was later informed by the Shamiah Front that the emir and two of the men had been executed by Hazm.
 
“The Shamiah Front is unable to hand over any of the killers to a Shariah court, as had been agreed,” the statement said. “The Shamiah Front no longer has any control over Hazm and it has pledged to expel it.”
 
Nusra also posted a video of an interview with three men it is holding as captives, purportedly from Hazm, who confess to having been ordered to stage an attack on a Nusra checkpoint, and kidnap “mujahedeen” in the area.
 
In the wake of the latest flare-up, the Shamiah Front issued a “final warning” to Hazm and demanded that the group abide by the Front’s decisions. It also urged Nusra Front fighters to “restrain themselves” before the confrontation spins out of control.
 
Anti-regime groups based in Aleppo, both religious and civilian, have urged the two militias to halt their infighting and focus on fighting the regime.
 
The activist in Aleppo speculated that a third party could be at work, “trying to ignite a war, kidnapping people so that either of the two sides is accused of doing it.”
 
Hazm gave its own version of events, accusing the Nusra Front of “sowing strife” during the most recent flare-up of battles in the Aleppo theater, when the regime mounted an aborted campaign to cut off rebel supply lines to the northern city last week.
 
The statement also hinted that Nusra had helped the regime forces during the battles, alleging that the early advances by the regime side took place in areas where Nusra fighters were located.
 
Nusra’s actions came “while Hazm fighters were cooperating with every other faction” in the battles with the regime, the statement added.
 
It accused Nusra of setting up surprise checkpoints and detaining more than a dozen Hazm fighters, as well as killing at least one rebel commander from the group.
 
The religious officials from Nusra, it complained, had engaged in “constant incitement” against the FSA fighters as “apostates and agents of the west.”