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Al-Qaeda readies for war of revenge after assassination of commander by rival rebel faction in northwest Syria
[ALMASDARNEWS] Following the liquidation of a high-ranking commander belonging to al-Qaeda affiliate militia Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham
 (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
) by fighters of the Free Syrian Army
... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...
-linked Harakat Noor al-Din al-Zenki group in northwest Syria, authorities from the former-mentioned faction have now called for a war of Dire Revenge.

During the late hours of Thursday night, Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham commander Abu Ayman al-Masri (an Egyptian national) and his wife were gunned-down by Noor al-Din al-Zenki bully boyz at a checkpoint in western Aleppo province (pictures here).

Since then, leading figures within Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham have called for vengeance against Noor al-Din al-Zenki, threatening the rival myrmidon group with all-out war.

Early reports state that Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham has started moving convoys of troops and heavy equipment from Idlib’s countryside towards Noor al-Din al-Zenki positions and bases in west Aleppo.

Even prior to Abu Ayman al-Masri’s liquidation of Thursday night, tensions between Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham and Noor al-Din al-Zenki had been on the rise for at least two weeks.

This latest escalation appears to almost guarantee that another inter-rebel war will erupt across northwest Syria soon ‐ the previous one taking place in mid-2017.
An Nahar adds that Abu Ayman’s wife was only wounded, and:
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Masri was in charge of education services for foreign members of the organization. He had previously served as a military trainer for new recruits.

"Abu Ayman was a member of al-Qaeda international," the Observatory said, adding that he had fought with the organization in Afghanistan.

Masri was already in Syria when al-Nusra Front began establishing itself as a major force in rebel ranks in 2014.

The Nureddine al-Zinki movement is a hardline Islamist faction with a powerful presence in western parts of Aleppo province near the border with Idlib. It formed a short-lived alliance with HTS in 2017, but has broken it off and the two groups have clashed in the past.
Posted by: Fred 2018-02-17
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=508281