Two senior commanders give up Fatah al-Sham

Informed sources disclosed that a notorious military commander and an economic official of Fatah al-Sham Front (previously known as the al-Nusra Front) have defected the group after widening gaps among the militants.

Member of Nusra Consultative Assembly and General Director of Economic Affairs Abu Ahmad Zokour and Hamzeh Sandeh, a member of Nusra Consultative Assembly and military commander of Fatah al-Sham, in a handwritten statement announced that they have left the group.

They said in their statement that widening gap and disunity among rebels in battlefields and each group's attempt to revenge another rival militant group in Syria were the main root causes of their decision to defect Fatah al-Sham.

They further added that they will not join any other group after their defection from al-Nusra.

"After frustration from our allies, we announce our defection from Fatah al-Sham," Zokour and Sandeh underlined.

Media sources disclosed on Saturday that Ahrar al-Sham terrorists engaged in fierce clashes with rival terrorists of Jund al-Aqsa and Fatah al-Sham Front in Northwestern Syria, leaving a large number of militants dead or wounded.

ARA news reported that Ahrar al-Sham suffered a large number of casualties in clashes with Fatah al-Sham and a group of Jund al-Aqsa in the town of Iblin close to Jabal (Mount) al-Zawiyeh.

ARA added that the town of Ahsam was the scene of heavy fighting between rival militants. "Fatah al-Sham eventually managed to win full control over Ahrar al-Sham's positions and Qamaynas town that is near Ahsam," it continued.

In the meantime, members of Jund al-Aqsa stormed an Ahrar al-Sham-controlled prison in Qamaynas and took away a Turkish National and handed him over to Turkey's intelligence service, ARA news went on to say.

A number of Ahrar al-Sham's members, including Abu Bakr Abadita, a security commander of the group, were arrested in the raid.

The Northern and Western territories of Idlib have been recently the scenes of fierce clashes between Ahrar al-Sham with Fatah al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa that have thus far inflicted major casualties on both sides.