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Did UAE and Saudi Play Role in Assassination of Syrian Opposition Leaders?
According to information divulged by Abu Ali, who served in the Islamic Front for two years between 2014- 2016, the UAE played a role in the assassinations of Syrian opposition leaders, According to Yeni Safak Turkish Newspaper.
The UAE is said to be behind a wave of assassinations that targeted the most prominent anti-U.S. Syrian opposition leaders between 2014- 2015, which paved the way for Daesh and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists to advance in opposition-held territories.
After obtaining information about the whereabouts of the opposition leaders via its intelligence services, the UAE then passed on these tips to the Assad regime which carried out attacks that killed Jaysh al-Islam commander Zahran Alloush, Ahrar Al-Sham leader Hassan Abboud and 45 high-ranking group members, according to Abu Ali, a member of the opposition group.
An attack that killed all leaders of Ahrar Al-Sham
Zahran Alloush, who was the leader of one of the biggest opposition groups in Syria, Jaysh al-Islam, was martyred on Dec. 25, 2015, following an airstrike on Eastern Ghouta.
Ahrar al-Sham leader Hasan Abboud was martyred along with 45 high-ranking members of the prominent opposition groups following a chemical attack that targeted a meeting in their Idlib headquarters on Sept. 9, 2014.
According to information divulged by Abu Ali, who served in the Islamic Front for two years between 2014- 2016, the UAE played a role in these assassinations, betraying Syria’s opposition with help from Saudi intelligence.
Saudi role
Abu Ali stressed that Saudi Arabia initially played a crucial role in supporting the opposition against the Assad regime through a Saudi intelligence colonel named Abul Kassim who assumed an influential position during that stage.
“Commander Alloush’s only communication device was a satellite phone that was given to him by the Saudis, who used it to track his movements before the attack that killed him was carried out,” said Abu Ali.
“Following investigations carried out after the attack, it was revealed that UAE first pinpointed his position and then UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah Zayed tipped Bashar Assad’s brother Maher Al-Assad about his whereabouts,” he continued.
“We also know that Muhammed Bin Zayed and his brother Abdullah played a role in the 2014 massacre of the Ahrar Al-Sham Emir Hassan Abboud and 45 of his friends,” concluded Abu Ali.
Israel knew of the attack
“Since 2015, we began to understand more clearly that some groups that were our allies during the war had a different goal.
“After 2015, we also saw that some of the information we shared with some of our allies had reached Israel. We learned that information shared with us about the location of Alloush, among other confidential topics, had also reached Israel.
“After the assassination, the cooperation between Israel, UAE, Russia and the Assad regime in the killing of Alloush became clear,” pointed out Abu Ali.
https://www.middleeastobserver.org/...n-assassination-of-syrian-opposition-leaders/
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Anti-HTS offensive in northern Syria
Jabhat al-Nusra was part of the loose alliance of armed factions that took over Idlib city and the province in the spring of 2015. Its influence over the province steadily grew at the expense of other factions and despite frequent civilian protests against their oppressive presence and human rights violations.
In July 2016, Jabhat al-Nusra announced its split from al-Qaeda in Syria and changed its name to Fateh al-Sham. The move came three years after a large number of its fighters broke off from its ranks to join what came to be known as ISIL, which also rejected al-Qaeda's authority.
"That [move] back then was dismissed as a publicity stunt. If you look at the details, you realise that this was more than just a PR move," said Heiko Wimmen, a project director at the Brussels-based research organisation International Crisis Group. According to him, since the summer of 2016, the armed group has sought to reinvent itself as a nationalist armed group movement, giving less priority to international movement.
"This doesn't mean that they have become nicer people. It means [different] tactics, ideology and leadership," said Wimmen.
In mid-January 2017, what was still called Jabhat Fateh al-Sham attacked positions of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and a number of other smaller armed groups in Idlib province, entering a standoff with Ahrar al-Sham, one of the largest Islamist factions in the region, which was also included on Moscow's "moderate opposition" list.
As a result of the tensions, smaller factions sought protection from Ahrar al-Sham, while others joined Fatah al-Sham, which changed its name to Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham. In July 2017, tensions between the two large armed groups escalated again, and HTS attacked Ahrar al-Sham and its allies, which withdrew after week-long clashes allowing their adversary to dominate Idlib province.
In November 2017, the HTS formed the Syrian Salvation Government, which in December issued an ultimatum to the Syrian Interim Government of the Turkey-based Syrian opposition to cease all operations in the province. In early January, Syrian regime forces with the help of Iran-backed militias and Russian air support, launched an offensive in southern Idlib province, causing tens of thousands of civilians to flee.
In response, FSA-affiliated groups and Ahrar al-Sham, Nour al-Din al-Zinki (previously associated with the HTS) and others created two separate operation rooms to counter the regime advances.
In mid-January, Abu Mohammed al-Joulani, the leader of the HTS, called for unity among armed factions in Idlib, but instead of heeding his call, other armed groups accused the HTS of withdrawing from areas in southern Idlib province to the benefit of the regime.
A month later, an alliance of Ahrar al-Sham, Nour al-Din al-Zinki and Soqour al-Sham attacked HTS. The factions managed to take over large areas in southern Idlib province, northern Hama province and western Aleppo province.
Earlier this week, Syrian opposition media reported that HTS sent reinforcements to Idlib city, its main stronghold, and Bab al-Hawa crossing on the border with Turkey.
HTS fighters managed to repel an attack on the crossing and counter-attack at other locations in Idlib. Bab al-Hawa serves as a major source of income for the armed group, which imposes a levy on goods that pass through it.
According to Wimmen, the attack on HTS was expected.
"The way [the HTS] basked in their victory, they were getting a lot of people ready to line up against them once the [time] was right, with the external threat removed," he said.
The deployment of Turkish troops in Idlib province stopped the regime offensive and gave a chance to HTS' adversaries to attack it, he added.
"[The operation] has been quite successful. After it, you can no longer say that Idlib is under exclusive HTS control," Wimmen said.
Before the attack, HTS had already been weakened by internal clashes, defections and killings. In late 2017, more than 35 high-profile foreign members of the HTS were assassinated, some of them al-Qaeda loyalists who were displeased with the formal split of the group.
According to Wimmen, some of the internal instability within HTS was the result of Turkish involvement.
"Turkey has tried to drive wedges into HTS because they see it as very problematic, and in particular the foreign element in it," said Wimmen. "They are hoping to split it and hoping to arrive at a point where the real hardliners, who are mostly foreigners, and who you cannot make any deals with, form only a small faction that you can destroy without too much damage and cost."
According to him, Turkey is likely to retain influence over Idlib and is, therefore, seeking to steer hardline armed groups into local governance. The Turkish presence in Syria's north is also likely to stave off future plans by the Syrian regime to recapture the area, Wimmen said.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/al-qaeda-syria-180301152110387.html
