(Zaman Al Wasl)- As fighting between the Nusra Front and Western-backed Hazzm movement in northern Syria has been escalated, the Shamiya Front announced Friday that Hazzm has joined its ranks to pull the fuse of war with al-Qaeda arm in Syria.
Early Saturday, Abdul Rahamn al-Turkey, reble commander in Shamiya Front, said a ceasefire has been reached hours after the merger announced.
Mohamed Bakkour, Military commander of Shamiya, in statement issued Friday, called on Nusra Front to solve the outstanding rifts with Hazzm via Sharia courts and through his biggest rebel group in Aleppo from now on.
Early Friday, Bakkour told Zaman al-Wasl that Shamiya Front has sent forces to Base 48, Hazzm's stronghold in Atareb city in a mission similar to peacekeeping forces.
Also, prominent jihadist Huthaifa Azzam called to “mind Arbitration pleasing to God,” and to halt infighting between Nusra and Hazzm
Clashes began on Thursday when the Nusra Front seized positions from the Hazzm movement west of Aleppo, threatening one of the few remaining pockets of the non-jihadist insurgency.
A Hazzm official told Reuters by telephone clashes had spread to Idlib and that his group had retaken some areas previously controlled by Nusra.
"There is now fighting in Idlib, in the Jabal al-Zawiya area," he said. He said in Aleppo province the two groups were also fighting in Atarib, a town 20 km (12 miles) from the Turkish border.
Hazzm is one of the last remnants of non-jihadist opposition to President Bashar al-Assad in northern Syria, much of which has been seized by the Nusra Front and Islamic State, an offshoot of al Qaeda that controls roughly a third of Syria.
The Nusra Front said it was forced to act after Hazzm detained two of its fighters and captured its weapons and offices. It said its forces had captured the Sheikh Suleiman base from Hazzm, about 25km west of Aleppo, on Thursday.
"It's probably most accurate to view this as the latest instance of Nusra efforts to expand their areas of dominance in Idlib and Aleppo at the expense of Western-backed factions, which they are gradually seeking to eliminate from the north," said Noah Bonsey, senior analyst on Syria with International Crisis Group.
The Syrian Islamist militant Ahrar al-Sham, which has worked with both groups, called for an end to the clashes and said the disagreement should be settled in an independent sharia court.
"We are ready to bring back the rights that our brothers in Nusra claimed (were taken) by Hazzm," the statement, posted on the group's Twitter account, said.
Hazzm has received what it describes as small amounts of military aid from foreign states opposed to Assad, including U.S.-made anti-tank missiles. But it has lost ground to better armed and financed jihadists.
The weakness of the mainstream Syrian opposition has complicated diplomatic efforts to end the conflict that has killed around 220,000 people. (With Reuters)
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