Syrian forces said they had surrounded on Wednesday a camp housing a prominent French extremist wanted by his government, sparking clashes at the site according to a monitoring group.
The operation in northwest Syria was the new government’s first known assault targeting extremists since the ouster in December of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.
The group of foreign extremists targeted by government forces on Wednesday was Firqatul Ghuraba in Arabic, or the Foreigners’ Brigade, led by 50-year-old Oumar Diaby, a Franco-Senegalese criminal turned preacher who adopted the name Omar Omsen.
Al Arabiya’s correspondent reported on Wednesday that clashes between Syrian security forces and French militants erupted overnight in Idlib’s Harem in northwest Syria.
General Ghassan Bakir, a top security commander in the northwestern province of Idlib, in a statement said government forces had completely surrounded the camp near the Turkish border, where Diaby is holed up.
The operation followed accusations against the group of kidnapping a girl.
Security forces “sought to negotiate with the leader to voluntarily surrender to the relevant authorities, but he refused and barricaded himself inside the camp... and began firing, provoking security personnel, and terrorizing residents,” Bakir said.
Diaby’s son Jibril told AFP via WhatsApp that “the clashes began after midnight and are still ongoing.”
Jibril also said that the clashes were linked to “France’s wish to secure the extradition of two French members of the group.”
In September 2016, the United States designated Diaby, suspected of funneling French-speaking fighters to Syria, as an “international terrorist.”
He is also wanted on a French arrest warrant.
The issue of foreign fighters who flocked to Syria during the years of conflict is a thorny one, with some countries refusing to take fighters back.
French security sources have previously told AFP that “around 50” people are believed to be part of Diaby’s group.
They have no known relation to ISIS, which was crushed in a US-led battle waged in alliance with Kurdish-led forces.
A resident of the Harem region, where the camp is located near the Turkish border, told AFP he had seen government forces bringing reinforcements to the area beginning Tuesday and had heard explosions.
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