Extremists’ infighting in Syria claims 41

Jund Al Aqsa group kills captured fighters from Fatah Al Sham on Monday after tensions erupt over control of Idlib

BEIRUT // The infighting between extremist factions in Syria is escalating, with mass killings of one group of fighters by another.

The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, which monitors the war via a network of sources on the ground, said the Jund Al Aqsa group captured 41 fighters from Fatah Al Sham, Al Qaeda’s former affiliate in Syria.

They then shot them dead in the town of Khan Shekhun in Idlib province. The murders happened on Monday but were only confirmed yesterday as fierce fighting continued between the militant factions.

Jund Al Aqsa has been locked in clashes with Fatah Al Sham all week, after tensions erupted over influence in the rebel-held province of Idlib. Fatah Al Sham is fighting alongside several allied groups in a coalition dubbed Tahrir Al Sham, and the battles have spread beyond Idlib to neighbouring Hama province. Including the 41 who were killed, 125 fighters from both sides have lost their lives.

Jund Al Aqsa is reviled by most rebels in the region, and is designated as a terrorist group by Washington.

Despite that, Fatah Al Sham announced last October that it had taken Jund Al Aqsa under its wing, although clashes between the two groups erupted shortly afterwards. Idlib province is held almost entirely by opposition factions, and was captured by an alliance of fighters dubbed the Army of Conquest, led by Fatah Al Sham.

But the fighting reflects the increasingly strained relations between different factions in Idlib province that were once brothers in arms fighting against the army of president Bashar Al Assad.

Yesterday, the Syrian government condemned attacks on the north Syrian town of Al Bab by Turkish forces as a crime, after 45 people were killed in air raids and shelling. The dead include 14 women and 18 children. Turkish military officials said that after a gruelling offensive lasting weeks, Syrian opposition forces, with Turkey’s backing, had retaken most of the town at the cost of 65 Turkish soldiers’ lives. But this was disputed by the Syrian Observatory, which said ISIL still had full control of Al Bab.

The ISIL-linked Aamaq news agency released a video supposedly taken in Al Bab showing men, boys and infants being treated for severe wounds in a clinic.

The video shows a child with a severe stomach wound which proved fatal and another infant with the top part of his skull blown off.