Daily Times

Idlib, Syria: A group led by Syria’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate on Sunday denied it knew the head of the Islamic State group, killed in a US raid, lived in an area under its control.

IS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi blew himself up 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 (HTS) 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 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 militants affiliated with 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 Bashar al-Assad.