Security tensions and an arrest campaign targeting foreign fighters in Kafriya and Al-Fu'a in Idlib

The undeclared conflict between the Syrian government and the foreign fighters who were fighting alongside members of the current Ministry of Defense during the Syrian revolution is still the dominant situation, as the repercussions of these people’s refusal to integrate into the formations of the Syrian Ministry of Defense and the threat of those who joined it to leave are present in every security clash that occurs from time to time in the region.

Community sources in Idlib reported that there was a state of security alert in the towns of Kafriya and Al-Fu'ah in the northern countryside of the governorate after the Internal Security Forces launched an arrest campaign that targeted a number of people with foreign nationalities, including a number of Uzbeks.

Civil sources in Idlib told RT that the security tension and subsequent arrest campaign targeting foreign fighters came against the backdrop of the killing of a person of a non-Syrian nationality in the region and the arrest of others who were accused of belonging to the "Islamic State" organization.

These tensions were not far from the escalation witnessed in the file of Uzbek fighters in Syria who exist outside the organizational frameworks of the military formations affiliated with the Syrian government, as they, along with fighters of different nationalities, refuse to integrate into the forces of the Syrian Ministry of Defense, and insist on working as independent armed groups with their own agenda independent of the government forces.

The tension between comrades-in-arms during the time of the revolution reached its peak when the gathering of Uzbek fighters in Syria issued a statement on June 6 in which it declared its complete refusal to join the ranks of the Syrian Ministry of Defense, vowing to withdraw any of its soldiers who had joined its formations earlier.

Foreign fighters have been present in the towns of Kafriya and Al-Fu'a, located in the northern countryside of Idlib, since July 2018, following the evacuation and displacement of their original residents, who largely belong to the Shiite minority in the country, in accordance with the "Four Cities Agreement." Foreign fighters from Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Uyghurs, who are known locally as "strangers," settled there and took control of the homes and lands in the two towns.