Feb 27, 2014

In a new twist regarding the battles between jihadist factions in Aleppo, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has returned to the city by gaining control of the Halak neighborhood. The group had lost influence in Aleppo after Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic Front made advances.

The move to control Halak was ISIS’s first reaction in the city since the factions declared war on the group. This development may reopen the battle fronts in the city’s neighborhoods that are outside government control. Those neighborhoods have repeatedly suffered from wars between rival factions.

In this context, a field source told As-Safir that ISIS jihadists entered the Halak neighborhood, which lies northeast of the city and near the front line with the Syrian army, almost without a fight. Islamic Front fighters withdrew from the neighborhood as soon as ISIS fighters got there. Then ISIS raised its banner and started distributing leaflets calling on people to hand over their weapons before the launch of an inspection campaign in the neighborhood in search of persons wanted by ISIS.

ISIS’s control of Halak comes as part of a series of developments in the war among the factions in Aleppo. In the latest development, al-Qaeda leader Abu Khaled al-Souri was killed, after which he was mourned by Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham for being a main al-Qaeda pillar in Syria. Jabhat al-Nusra, the Islamic Front and the Army of the Mujahedeen (which is the most prominent faction fighting ISIS) announced their unification of operations to “repel the regime’s attack.” But a jihadist source told As-Safir, “The aim of this step is to confront ISIS,” pointing out that the move “came quickly after ISIS returned to the city and started operating in areas that were thought to have been outside its control.” This indicates that the war between these factions in the city will intensify. Many Aleppo neighborhoods that are outside government control are split between the Islamic Front and Jabhat al-Nusra.

The source played down the importance of the new “joint operations room” for these organizations on the ground, especially in the battles against the Syrian army, which have continued for a long time. The source said, “This new announcement is nothing more than a direct message to ISIS, which seems to be returning to the city of Aleppo in force after it gained control of the Halak neighborhood.” The source cited the last words by Jabhat al-Nusra’s leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani, who gave ISIS a five-day deadline to stop its war before a big war breaks out between these factions, which have been already fighting each other, but on multiple and non-competing fronts.