Ahrar al-Sham released a statement confirming that Hassan Soufan (or Abu al-Bara) has replaced Ali Omar (Abu Ammar) as the group’s leader.
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Hassan Soufan obtained power following the group’s loss of a number of areas, including the city of Idlib, to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) in Idlib province.
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However, according to local sources, the new Ahrar al-Sham leader has much better relations with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) than the previous one and supports HTS’ idea of unification of all Idlib militant groups under one command that without doubts would be dominated by HTS.
Thus, this may be start of the end of Ahrar al-Sham as more or less independent entity and a major blow to Turkey that had relied on the group as on the tool of own influence in Idlib province.
