Jaysh al-Izza, one of the remaining armed factions in Greater Idlib, announced on May 31 that a new batch of its special forces has completed training.
The group released a video on June 2 showing the training of its new special forces personnel. In the video, 28 fighters can be seen training with live ammo and battle tanks in a military camp located right beside refugees’ tents in northern Idlib.
The camp is named after Abdul Baset al-Sarout, the so-called “icon” of the Syrian opposition who was killed by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in northern Hama last year. Jaysh al-Izza has been training its militants in the camp for around a year now.
Last year, The SAA inflicted heavy losses on Jaysh al-Izza. The army captured the group’s main strongholds in northern Hama and neutralized most of its militants.
Jaysh al-Izza faced another setback as a result of its repeated defeats when 500 of its fighters defected and joined the Turkish-backed Sham Legion.
Jamil al-Saleh, leader of Jaysh al-Izza, has been attempting to revive his group for a few months now. Nevertheless, the number of the group’s militants is still very low, likely a few hundreds if not dozens.
