Afrasianet - The Internal Security Forces in Syria launched a large-scale security campaign on Wednesday, during which they targeted a group of wanted persons inside a camp for French fighters in the city of Harem in the Idlib countryside, led by Omar Diabi, known as "Omar Omsin", as part of a security operation targeting the "group of strangers", which includes French and foreign fighters in northern Syria. 

The campaign came with the aim of arresting a number of wanted persons, headed by Diabi, after receiving complaints from the camp residents related to the commission of violations, kidnappings and imprisonment inside the camp, as information indicates that the camp includes a private prison supervised by Diabi himself.

Encirclement of the camp

The source added: During the operation, the internal security forces surrounded the camp and targeted certain people, but the French fighters faced the campaign with armed resistance, which led to the outbreak of violent clashes and widespread tension in the areas where the migrants were present, while a large number of residents headed towards the city of Idlib.

The campaign came after the kidnapping of the 11-year-old French girl Maimouna Verstay, who was confirmed by accounts belonging to the French fighters on Telegram that Diaby was holding her inside the camp away from her mother who lives in the The town of Darkoush in the countryside of Idlib, while her father lives in France.

Accounts affiliated with the "French" Brigades broadcast video clips of the child Maimouna explaining her story, in addition to audio recordings of her mother Sara and letters written in French in which she talks about her kidnapped daughter, in addition to photos of complaints filed by the child's father, who lives in France, to the court of Salqin in which he demanded the suspension of the mother's custody.

Calls for lifting the siege

While informed sources confirmed that the aim of the operation is to recover the girl and arrest those involved in her abduction, led by Diabi, who was previously arrested by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham on previous occasions, amid accusations of committing serious violations against civilians and residents of the camp, the migrants say that the aim of the operation is to arrest Diabi and hand him over with others to the camp. French intelligence.

After complaints from residents related to violations and kidnappings

The commander of internal security in Idlib province, Brig. Gen. Ghassan Bakir, said in an official statement that the campaign came "in response to the complaints of the residents of al-Fardan camp in the Idlib countryside about the grave violations they were subjected to, the latest of which was the kidnapping of a girl from her mother by an outlaw armed group led by Omar Diaby."

He added: "The Internal Security Command has begun to take urgent and firm measures to protect civilians and ensure their safety, including directing the Internal Security Forces to the camp, completely surrounding it, installing observation points on its outskirts, and deploying teams to secure the entrances and exits."

Refusal to negotiate

According to the statement, the Internal Security Command also sought to negotiate with the leader to voluntarily surrender himself to the competent authorities, but he refused, barricaded himself inside the camp, prevented civilians from leaving, and began shooting and provoking security personnel and terrorizing the residents, which confirms that he is using civilians as human shields, and that he bears full legal and moral responsibility for any threat to their safety.

According to field reports, the camp is home to between 2,000 and 3,000 people of French and Belgian origin, including women, children and fighters, amid fears that the clashes will continue.Omar Diaby, known as Omar Omsin, is one of the most prominent leaders of foreign groups in northern Syria, a Frenchman of Senegalese origin, who was born in 1981 in the French city of Nice, and began his advocacy activity online before entering Syria in 2012 with 12 French men to fight within extremist organizations, and later defected from ISIS to join the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) He founded the "Squad of Strangers," which included dozens of foreign fighters, mostly from France and Belgium.

Based in the Harem area north of Idlib, Diabi established a semblance of an "emirate" inside the Al-Fardan camp, known as the "French Camp", and imposed his authority over the population through repressive practices that included public flogging, forced detention, and the atonement of those who tried to leave.

Despite his earlier announcement that he would disband the "Stranger Brigade" and join the "82nd Brigade" in the new Syrian army after the fall of the Syrian regime, he continued to exert his influence within the country camp, using civilians as human shields, and rejecting any oversight or accountability by the security authorities.

 Foreign fighters in Idlib call for fleeing against Syrian security forces

Videos of fighters of Uzbek nationality who arrived in the city of Harem in rural Idlib to support French fighters against the Syrian security forces have circulated on social media platforms in Syria. 

In one of the clips, an Uzbek fighter said: "We gathered in Idlib to support our French brothers," calling on all migrant fighters — Moroccans, Tunisians, Tajiks, Turkisans, Kurds and Arabs — to "hurry up to support their brothers, because their turn is coming to them."

"We are not fighting against the Syrian government, we are defending our fellow migrants, because the authorities are seeking to extradite them to France, and we are ready to defend them with our blood," he added.

 Later,  the General Security Forces in Syria reversed their decision to storm the Gharba camp and arrest French migrants following the intervention and mediation of Uzbek fighters and jihadists and other Central Asian nationalities. 

Earlier, the northern and western Idlib countryside area in Harem, Jisr al-Shughour, Kefraya and al-Foua witnessed widespread mobilization, after Uzbek fighters announced their support and support for French migrants holed up inside the al-Gharba camp, prompting the General Security Forces to retreat for fear of widespread clashes and clashes with foreign fighters.

The Syrian Observatory reported that the General Security Forces used the pretext of Omar Diabi "Omsin", the commander of the Gharba Brigade and the controller of the French immigrant camp (most of whom are of Algerian, Moroccan, Tunisian and African origin) imposing his control and rulings on the camp's residents away from the Syrian authorities and courts.

The problem began when a woman named Sara escaped from his camp, and he imprisoned another woman from the camp for helping her escape from the camp, giving her forty lashes in front of her husband and children.

He also helped Abu Ibrahim al-Fransi kidnap the daughter of Sara and try to travel with her to France through Bab al-Hawa with the help of Abu Hajar al-Tunisi, according to the Observatory.

The Observatory had reported that foreign fighters and Syrian security personnel were killed and wounded in clashes last night during the storming of the fighters' camp and the arrest of French jihadists in the operation.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, in conjunction with the attempts to storm the Al-Gharba camp, which houses dozens of French migrants, has previously documented a full mobilization by foreign militants in the northern countryside of Idlib and the continuation of mobilizations to support the migrants and raise the maximum readiness to face any possible developments.

The region also recorded intermittent clashes throughout the night and Tuesday morning, which decreased in intensity after the intervention of Uzbek fighters in the negotiation line, while there is intense fear and anticipation among the women of French immigrants after a bloody night that witnessed shelling and violent clashes with the General Security Forces.

The clashes were accompanied by drones flying over the camp, while French migrants frightened foreign fighters as the clashes intensified.

A number of Uzbek migrants had announced through a video their readiness to support the French migrants, in conjunction with the continuation of violent clashes between "French migrants" and members of the General Security Forces, after the latter suddenly stormed the migrant camp.

According to the Syrian Observatory, the group "French Migrants" in the "Squad of Strangers" issued a statement claiming that the transitional government is implementing a plan to eliminate foreign migrants in cooperation with the United States and the international coalition, including France, and that it started with French migrants.

However, what is happening is not without trends that say that the interim government has started implementing foreign plans to liquidate foreign fighters after many of the countries to which they belong refused to return to their country.