Al Nusrah Front and allies claim victory at Al Mastoumah, Idlib

Rebels in “Jaysh al Fateh” at Al Mastoumah.

The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s official branch in Syria, and its allies in the Jaysh al Fateh coalition are claiming to have completely overrun the Assad regime’s forces at the Al Mastoumah military camp in Idlib. The camp was one of the last remaining regime strongholds in the northwestern province.

The jihadists have been promoting the victory on Twitter and other social media. On Al Nusrah’s official Twitter feed for its Idlib operations, the jihadist group said that it and its Jaysh al Fateh allies have fully “liberated” the camp. In other tweets, it said that the regime forces at the camp had retreated and that the road between Al Mastoumah and the regime-held town of Ariha is under its control.

The Islamic Front’s Ahrar al Sham, an al Qaeda-linked group that belongs to Jaysh al Fateh, has also reported victory on its Twitter feed, claiming “dozens of Assad’s forces” were killed. Ajnad Sham, another member organization in the coalition, has said that its forces have destroyed at least two Russian-made BMP’s and a tank in the battle.

According to accounts of the battle, the offensive to take the camp started with a suicide bombing by Jund al Aqsa. A video claiming to show the suicide bombing has been uploaded to YouTube in recent days. Jund al Aqsa is an al Qaeda front group that is heavily comprised of foreign fighters and fights alongside the Al Nusrah Front. After the suicide bombing, the other rebel groups then began the offensive with Al Nusrah Front claiming to have stormed the base from its southern side.

Jaysh al Fateh continues to advance in Idlib. In March, the coalition took over Idlib city. Jund al Aqsa also began that offensive with suicide bombings. Last month, the coalition took over the Al Qarmeed military camp in Idlib, while the “Battle of Victory” coalition, another al Qaeda-led coalition of rebel groups, took over Jisr al Shughur. (For more information, see LWJ reports: Jihadist coalition claims control of IdlibAl Nusrah Front, allies launch new offensives against Syrian regimeAl Qaeda, jihadist allies declare victory over Syrian regime in key city.)

Photos released by rebels from Al Mastoumah:

Jund al Aqsa commander being interviewed:

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Photos showing destroyed regime vehicles:

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Photos showing the “spoils” taken by Al Nusrah and Jund al Aqsa:

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Al Nusrah touring the base:

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Caleb Weiss is an editor of FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.

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7 Comments

  • Oberron says:

    We’re just going to have to accept Syria and Iraq no longer exist and let these groups kill each other. We simply are going broke trying to put out the fire Bush started and not getting anywhere. Increase our border security, fix our economy, and fire the Generals for failure to win, they can’t blame the Civilians for their failures as they were given everything available and still failed and they were fighting light infantry to boot. I shudder to think how they would have stood up to Russia which is far more powerful and packs far more formidable gear than the downgraded junk they gave the Third World to mask their true capabilities.

    Or we can keep flushing money down the drain as our economy and borders implode which is more a threat to this nation than IS and the Taliban.

  • jayc says:

    Oberron, do not worry, the Turkish solution is nigh. The Turks are only waiting for the Assad regime and the ultras to fight each each other until they can’t any longer, and then the Turkish military will come in and wipe both sides off the face of the planet. I know this is hard to believe, but they have been dealing with Arabs for centuries, and this is how it will be done.

  • KWG020 says:

    Don’t blame this on GWB. This Moslem unrest has been building since the creation of Israel in 1948. Every year the hard core Islamists have just gotten angrier and angrier. GWB tried to put an end to the fighting and unrest and his plan would have worked, for a while but not forever. It was all going to happen sooner or later. It’s happening now during our generation. It sucks to be us. The hard core Islamists want Armageddon. They have been waiting and planning Armageddon for centuries. Now is the time. Adjust fire and accept our fate and prepare for war or die like so many who have refused to believe it is upon us and failed to prepare or set their mind to the coming holocaust. It’s coming, are you ready?

  • g says:

    Real Jihadis don’t use the Internet!

    I do not understand how Jihadists are allowed by their religious leaders to promote anything with social media. If consistent, I would expect any radical interpretation of Islam would forbid the use of the internet and contemporary web sites and tools. What other Western practice created directly from Freedom and Capitalism is sanctioned? Using the internet should be punishable similar to that of being a homosexual, smoking, practicing any other religion or the other arbitrary convenient offenses they dictate. Using the internet promotes Western ideals and a campaign should be launched to expose the sheer hypocrisy of these lunatics to their audience.

    Real Jihadis don’t use the Internet!

  • Bill Baar says:

    You mean let the Iranians do it?

  • irebukeu says:

    @ G The things you listed as ‘forbidden are things listed in the Koran as such. Using the Internet is not listed as haram and is a tool of the mujahideen, does not take away from the worship of god – in fact it can be used to further the worship of god, so can be used. It might surprise one to learn that billiards and foosball are allowed by the Islamic state. Both, I believe, are western inventions.

    It is allowed under some conditions, for IS muslims to travel to “the lands of unbelief” for “western”medical attention but not to live there.

    Let us remember that 1.6 billion muslims are ignoring the orders of Abu Bakr to move to the Islamic state. Some leader of the faithful huh? It seems most of the ‘faithful’ don’t care a rats behind about Abu Bakr or his Islamic State.

    Understanding of the enemy we fight and why they fight is very lacking in the west . I would suggest for required reading, the 2001 book ‘Through our enemies eyes’ by Michael Scheuer.

  • john70 says:

    Yeah, the problem with ISIS is their hypocrisy.

Iraq

Islamic state

Syria

Aqap

Al shabaab

Boko Haram

Isis