Factions loyal to the Turkish occupation mourn al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri

The killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a US air strike, in the Afghan capital, Kabul on July 31, had a great impact on many leaders of the armed factions affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra) and leaders of armed factions loyal to the Turkish occupation. The leaders are supporters of the organization and have previously joined groups that pledge allegiance to it in Syria before moving to the factions of what is known as the “Syrian National Army.”

The General Shariah of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham / al-Nusra Front, formerly, “Abd al-Rahim Attoun,” nicknamed “Abu Abdullah al-Shami,” wrote a post on his channel on “Telegram,” saying, “May God have mercy on Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri and accept him and raise his rank among the Mahdis and grant him the highest paradise with the prophets, the righteous, the martyrs.” And the best of those are companions. This is a place in which we remember only a man who lived for his religion, fought, resisted, and struggled in his cause half a century or more. He was imprisoned, tortured, harmed, emigrated, abandoned, and was patient. May God bless you, O Abu Mohammad, with vast mercy. And unto God and to Him we shall return”

Abu Maria al-Qahtani, one of the most prominent leaders of the Headquarters for Tahrir Al-Sham, published on his Telegram channel, verses of poetry, in which he laments Al-Zawahiri, saying:
Killing in the enemy’s way is a loss
And as we know it, it is an excused testimony

As for “Abd al-Rahman al-Idrisi,” a Tunisian security leader who defected from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and who resides within the areas controlled by the factions loyal to the Turkish occupation, he wrote a post on his channel on “Telegram” saying, “Oh God, accept Sheikh Ayman al-Zawahiri and join him with the prophets, friends and martyrs. A mountain from the mountains of steadfastness and sacrifice that history will remember, generation after generation.

In addition, Al-Zawahiri’s death left a state of grief among a number of the leaders of the aforementioned armed factions.

“Saad al-Ali”, who is a pseudonym for a member of the “Sultan Suleiman Shah Division” faction, told Aso News Network, in this context, that many leading figures within several factions loyal to the Turkish occupation, expressed unannounced and without statements their grief over the killing of a leader Al-Qaeda Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Al-Ali added that the commander of the aforementioned faction, Mohammad Al-Jassem, nicknamed “Abu Amsha,” had mercy on Al-Zawahiri during a morning meeting of his faction members in one of the headquarters in the Shih/Sheikh Hadid district, and spoke to them about his virtues and the loss of what he called “the Islamic nation of “The last of the very prominent figures in al-jihad.”

The elements warned of the possibility that the United States of America would start carrying out similar operations, to eliminate what they considered “jihadist figures” in Syria, such as “Abu Mohammad al-Julani”, the leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

The previous source pointed out that the WhatsApp messaging rooms of some factions witnessed many discussions, following the killing of Al-Zawahiri, in which the elements expressed their regret and denunciation of his killing at the hands of the United States, which they consider a foreign country hostile to the jihadists in Syria.

The source also confirmed that another leader of “Fayilaq Al-Sham” faction called “Abu Hafs Al-Omar”, who hails from Eastern Ghouta in Damascus countryside, mentioned in a publication to him in one of the “WhatsApp rooms”, that the party that carried out the killing of Al-Zawahiri is an enemy of the “Syrian National Army”. ” and it spared no effort in killing many of those he described as “jihadists,” as he put it.

Sami al-Sakhita, an English language teacher who resides in Turkey, told Aso News Network that the sadness of these leaders, especially Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is due to their organic association with al-Qaeda.

He added, “Everyone knows that the issue of HTS disengagement from al-Qaeda is just a media ploy that the former carried out, in coordination with the latter, in order to gain legitimacy and convince the United States of America that it is a moderate group, and thus obtain support in extending its influence over Idlib.

He added, “There are many leaders of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham who have strong ties to al-Qaeda and have a long history of fighting alongside it in both Afghanistan and Iraq. The organization is in some parts, but it believes the same beliefs as al-Qaeda in terms of ambition to establish an “Islamic caliphate,” suppressing minorities, and blaspheming.”

He also pointed out that many of the leaders of these factions had previously been within the ranks of organizations close to the ideas of al-Qaeda, such as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, ISIS and the Turkistan Islamic Party.

He also added: “And we should not forget that the prominent legal figures in northern Syria, such as “Abdul Rahim Atoun”, “Abu al-Yaqzan al-Masri”, “Al-Muhaisni” and others, have relations with all the factions in addition to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, and these legislators are among the top loyalists to al-Qaeda. They have a great influence on the elements of the factions.”

Al-Sakhaita did not appear surprised by the expression of the factions loyal to the Turkish occupation and their leaders, their grief over the killing of Ayman Al-Zawahiri, especially since many of the supporters of these factions expressed their grief and regret earlier, after the killing of the former leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, and his successor Al-Qurashi, according to his saying.

It is believed that many of the faction leaders wish to officially announce their condolences and express their grief over the killing of “Ayman al-Zawahiri”, but they fear that they will be classified as terrorist groups.

Others interviewed by Aso News Network in northern Syria believe that even the Turkish occupation state supports jihadist groups unannounced, as it has facilitated the entry of thousands of jihadists into Syria through its borders since the beginning of the events in 2011, and has supported jihadist groups until this moment, such as the Turkistan Islamic Party , according to them.

The Turkish occupation army had previously had good relations and coordination with ISIS when it controlled large parts of the border with Turkey before it was eliminated by the Syrian Democratic Forces and the international coalition.

It is worth mentioning that the ranks of the Turkish occupation factions are full of members and leaders of non-Syrian nationalities, especially “Faylaq al-Sham” and “Ahrar al-Sharqiya” factions, and among its ranks there are many elements who were previously affiliated with the banner of takfiri jihadi factions and groups bearing the same ideology as al-Qaeda and pledge them with loyalty.