...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
(IS) is nearly finished; however, a large chunk of northwest Syria is still controlled by jihadist groups like Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham
and Harakat Ahrar al-Sham...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014...
.
With Idlib almost entirely controlled by the jihadist rebels, the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) High Command has made the decision to redeploy their elite Tiger Forces division to the neighboring Hama Governorate.
Backed by the Qalamoun Shield and 4th Division, the Tiger Forces will make a big push from the northern Hama town of Ma’an in order to capture nearby Abu Dali, which has an important crossroad located inside of it.
Once Abu Dali is recaptured, the Tiger Forces will advance towards the strategic Abu Dhuhour Military Airport in the eastern countryside of Idlib.
The Abu Dhuhour Military Airport was seized by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (previously 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 .. ...
and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham
...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant, now something else...) during a large offensive in 2015; it has become the jihadist group’s most important base in eastern Idlib.