Heavy fighting between al-Qaeda’s Syrian faction, the Tahrir al-Sham, and Turkish-aligned fighters from Nouraddin al-Zinki continued to rage on Thursday,
with several days of fighting in and around Aleppo Province threatening
to spill over into Idlib, and start to involve the territory of even
more rebel groups.
Al-Qaeda appears to be on the offensive now, attacking several towns,
and seizing Darat Izza, a strategically important town. Al-Qaeda insists
that the other side started the fighting, and these offensives are
simply their response.
Darat Izza seems to be a particularly key town in all of this, as other
rebel groups say they believe that it would greatly strengthen
al-Qaeda’s bargaining position with Turkey in the “secret talks” they
believe are ongoing.
Exact death tolls are not available, but both sides are believed to have
lost dozens of fighters. Only about five civilian deaths are confirmed
so far, with most fighting not happening in populated areas. As the
fighting expands, this could change, however.
Rebel Infighting Surges in Northwest Syria; Al-Qaeda Attacks Several Towns
Al-Qaeda insists Turkey-backed rebels started fighting earlier this week
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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