Hurras al-Din Attacks Turkish Forces in Northwest Syria

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militants in the northwest of Syria (AFP)
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militants in the northwest of Syria (AFP)
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Hurras al-Din Attacks Turkish Forces in Northwest Syria

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militants in the northwest of Syria (AFP)
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militants in the northwest of Syria (AFP)

Signs of confrontations emerged Thursday in the countryside of Idlib province between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Hurras al-Din amid the criticism of a human rights network over violations committed in the northwest of Syria.

A pro-opposition website said that Hurras al-Din attacked Turkish soldiers on the M4 highway.

Earlier, the Turkish Defense Ministry said two Turkish soldiers were killed and others were injured in Idlib in a rocket attack by "some radical groups" on the Aleppo-Latakiya road.

“The attack on the M4 highway was carried out by Hurras al-Din group, formerly a member of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham,” the pro-opposition Zaman al-Wasl website quoted sources as saying.

Following the attack, fierce clashes erupted on the highway between Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and an unidentified group.

Hurras al-Din is known for its rejection of the agreement signed between Turkey and Russia in Idlib.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) revealed in its report released Thursday that Hurras al-Din is responsible for kidnapping and forcibly disappearing six activists working for relief organizations in Idlib.

The network urged the release of the detainees, the activists, and the prisoners of conscience as a precaution from the coronavirus.

In its five-page report, the group also outlined the history of the establishment of Hurras al-Din in February 2018, with the group’s leaders founding it after their defection from al-Nusra Front.

The report noted that Hurras al-Din controls four secret detention centers with approximately 113 detainees, based on the accounts of a number of former detainees who were released by the group.

“The group often does not claim responsibility for the kidnappings or detentions it carries out in order to avoid unnecessary antagonism with local communities,” SNHR said.

The report accused Hurras al-Din of committing widespread violations of international human rights law against the people in the areas under its control through kidnappings, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and unfair rulings issued by courts that in no way comply with the basic rules of fair trials.

It called on the international community and the Security Council to accelerate the political transition process towards democracy in Syria to expedite the process of ending extremist groups, which live on wars and conflicts.



Israel Approves Controversial Project in West Bank

A Palestinian woman is reflected in a bulletproof window at an Israeli checkpoint in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, on March 28, 2025, as she arrives to travel to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City for the last Friday noon prayer of Ramadan. (AFP)
A Palestinian woman is reflected in a bulletproof window at an Israeli checkpoint in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, on March 28, 2025, as she arrives to travel to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City for the last Friday noon prayer of Ramadan. (AFP)
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Israel Approves Controversial Project in West Bank

A Palestinian woman is reflected in a bulletproof window at an Israeli checkpoint in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, on March 28, 2025, as she arrives to travel to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City for the last Friday noon prayer of Ramadan. (AFP)
A Palestinian woman is reflected in a bulletproof window at an Israeli checkpoint in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, on March 28, 2025, as she arrives to travel to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City for the last Friday noon prayer of Ramadan. (AFP)

The Israeli security Cabinet approved on Sunday the construction of a road for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Critics say it will open the door for Israel to annex a key area just outside Jerusalem, further undermining the feasibility of a future Palestinian state.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the project is meant to streamline travel for Palestinians in communities near the large Jewish settlement of Maaleh Adumim.

Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog group, said the road will divert Palestinian traffic outside of Maaleh Adumim and the surrounding area known as E1, a tract of open land deemed essential for the territorial contiguity of a future state.

That will make it easier for Israel to annex E1, according to Hagit Ofran, a settlement expert with the group, because Israel can claim there is no disruption to Palestinian movement.

Critics say Israeli settlements and other land grabs make a contiguous future state increasingly impossible. Several roads in the West Bank are meant for use by either Israelis or Palestinians, which international rights groups say is part of an apartheid system, allegations Israel rejects.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three for their future state. A two-state solution is widely seen as the only way to resolve the decades-old conflict.