Jihadists accuse HTS of conspiring with Syrian government to kill IS leader
Jihadis opposed to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in northern Syria accuse it of sending fighters from Idlib to Daraa, in the south of the country, to aid the Russians and government forces in eradicating Islamic State cells and their leader in the province.
Jihadist fighters in northwestern Syria opposed to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda wing, are claiming that groups affiliated with HTS have taken part in the security operation that led to the killing of Islamic State (IS) leader Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in the countryside of Daraa province, in southern Syria, in mid-October.
A spokesman for IS announced in an audio recording Nov. 30 that Qurayshi was killed in battle recently, without adding more details as to the location or time of death.
The US Central Command said in a Nov. 30 statement that Qurayshi was killed in an operation led by the opposition Free Syrian Army (FSA) in Daraa in mid-October.
According to the Horan Free League, a local network that transmits news in southern Syria, Qurayshi was killed after local groups affiliated with the FSA rigged his house with explosives on Oct. 17. The bombing led to Qurayshi’s killing, as well as two IS members, identified as Abu Suleiman Barqa and Bakr al-Homsi, according to sources who spoke to the Horan Free League.
