🏴🇮🇶 On Kurdish Jihadis within HTS ranks: Estimates indicate that the number of Kurdish militants within Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria may exceed 3,000, originating from Kurdish populations across the region.
Reports suggest that the largest contingent is likely from Turkey, with a particularly notable concentration from the city of Bingöl, where over 600 individuals reportedly joined Jabhat al-Nusra (the predecessor of HTS) during its early formation.
Other fighters primarily consist of Kurdish militants from Iran and Iraq, while only a smaller fraction are believed to be Syrian Kurds.
One prominent Kurdish militant group active in Idlib province, HTS’s main stronghold during the Syrian conflict, was Ansar al-Islam—an Iraq-based Kurdish Salafi-jihadist organization.
Pictured: Ansar al-Islam fighters during a training session in Idlib in 2019.
🏴🇮🇶 On Kurdish Jihadis within HTS ranks: Estimates indicate that the number of Kurdish militants within Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria may exceed 3,000, originating from Kurdish populations across the region.
Reports suggest that the largest contingent is likely from Turkey, with a particularly notable concentration from the city of Bingöl, where over 600 individuals reportedly joined Jabhat al-Nusra (the predecessor of HTS) during its early formation.
Other fighters primarily consist of Kurdish militants from Iran and Iraq, while only a smaller fraction are believed to be Syrian Kurds.
One prominent Kurdish militant group active in Idlib province, HTS’s main stronghold during the Syrian conflict, was Ansar al-Islam—an Iraq-based Kurdish Salafi-jihadist organization.
Pictured: Ansar al-Islam fighters during a training session in Idlib in 2019.
Overall, extreme levels of fear in the market seems to have morphed into something more resembling concern. For example, the Cboe Volatility Index fell from its 2022 peak of 36, which it hit Monday, to around 30 on Friday, a sign of easing tensions. Meanwhile, while the price of WTI crude oil slipped from Sunday’s multiyear high $130 of barrel to $109 a pop. Markets have been expecting heavy restrictions on Russian oil, some of which the U.S. has already imposed, and that would reduce the global supply and bring about even more burdensome inflation. The regulator said it has been undertaking several campaigns to educate the investors to be vigilant while taking investment decisions based on stock tips. He said that since his platform does not have the capacity to check all channels, it may restrict some in Russia and Ukraine "for the duration of the conflict," but then reversed course hours later after many users complained that Telegram was an important source of information. You may recall that, back when Facebook started changing WhatsApp’s terms of service, a number of news outlets reported on, and even recommended, switching to Telegram. Pavel Durov even said that users should delete WhatsApp “unless you are cool with all of your photos and messages becoming public one day.” But Telegram can’t be described as a more-secure version of WhatsApp. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 230 points, or 0.7%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.3% and 2.2%, respectively. All three indexes began the day with gains before selling off.
from ar
