ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - French diplomatic sources told Rudaw on Thursday that they were "closely" following an ongoing crackdown by the Syrian interim government targeting foreign jihadists, particularly French nationals, in Idlib, while declining to comment on allegations that Paris was involved in the operation.
Asked about the alleged involvement of France in the operation, the sources declined to provide "further comments on an operation that falls under the internal security prerogatives of the transitional government."
"We have taken note of this operation and are following the situation closely," the French diplomatic sources told Rudaw.
Damascus authorities said Thursday they negotiated a ceasefire with the group of jihadists led by Frenchman Oumar Diaby, also known as Omar Omsen, in northwestern Syria, according to sources, a day after the interim government said they had surrounded the ‘French Camp’ in the town of Harem in western Idlib, sparking clashes.
The group is known as Firqatul Ghuraba in Arabic, or the Foreigners' Brigade, led by Diaby. The operation followed accusations that the group had kidnapped a girl. Diaby was accused to have sought to prevent troops entering the camp near the Turkish border, which is home to tens of fighters.
The camp is reportedly a stronghold led by Omsen. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the operation aimed to extradite the French jihadist along with other “individuals wanted by France.”
The Harem raid is part of a broader campaign across Idlib province targeting all known residences of foreign militants in a sweeping search-and-extradition effort, the war monitor explained.
A widely circulated statement on X, attributed to Firqat al-Ghuraba, accused the Syrian interim government of “executing a plan to eliminate foreign fighters in cooperation with the United States and the International Coalition - including France.” The group reportedly alleged that “French nationals are the first targets of this plan.”
In early December, a coalition of opposition forces - led by the now-dissolved Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa - toppled the regime of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad. Sharaa was appointed interim President in late January.
Since assuming power, Sharaa has made diplomatic overtures to remove international sanctions on Syria. A key step in that effort has been the repatriation of foreign fighters to their countries of origin.
According to SOHR, Sharaa recently assured France that he would “end the presence of French jihadists in Syria and hand them over to Paris.” He also reportedly pledged to Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Moscow last week that his government would begin “extraditing Russian and Chechen foreign fighters to Russia” in “spaced-out phases" to prevent an uprising against Sharaa's government by the foreign fighters.