Notorious French militant leader arrested by HTS in Syria’s Idlib Omar Omsen, leader of the Firqatul Gharaba brigade, was detained on Saturday, as widening HTS crackdown also targets Hizb ut-Tahrir members

August 31, 2020 and   

(Middle East Eye) A senior French fighter has been detained by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in a new round of arrests by the militant group in Syria’s opposition-held Idlib province.

Omar Omsen, the leader of the Firqatul Gharaba brigade, was taken into custody on Saturday after attending an HTS court hearing in relation to his earlier arrest on 12 August, Firqatul Gharaba said in a statement.

Three other members of Firqatul Gharaba, a militant group dominated by European fighters, were also detained, it said.

The statement said that Omsen had been summoned to court for matters concerning a “reconciliation” following a dispute with some members of the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), an independent Uighur militant group based in Idlib.

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