The Foreigners Brigade Returns to the Spotlight in Syria: What Is Happening in Idlib?

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A peculiar group of wanted foreign militants has resurfaced in Syria after years of conflict, and the moment for confrontation appears to have arrived, driven by overlapping motives.

It is the “Foreigners Brigade,” led by the Franco-Senegalese jihadist Omar Diaby, also known as Omar Omsen, based in a camp on the outskirts of the city of Harem in northwestern Syria.

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Syrian security forces have launched an operation to arrest several wanted individuals among French militants living in a camp in Idlib province near the Turkish border, according to a French fighter and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), as reported Wednesday by Agence France-Presse.

Gabriel, Diaby’s son, told AFP via WhatsApp: “The clashes began after midnight and are still ongoing,” noting that “security forces are shelling the camp where women and children are present.”

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The young man, a well-known football player in Idlib, said the clashes are linked “to France’s desire to secure the extradition of two French nationals from the group.”

Meanwhile, SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman stated that Syrian authorities had launched “a large-scale security operation targeting the camp after encircling it, with the goal of handing over French nationals wanted by their government.” He added that clashes broke out between the two sides following the operation.

No official statement has yet been issued by Syrian authorities regarding the incident.

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An international terrorist

According to a local witness from the town of Harem interviewed by AFP, security forces have maintained “a heavy deployment in the area and around the camp” since Tuesday. He reported seeing vehicles equipped with heavy machine guns arriving continuously in the town.

The French fighters, under Diaby’s leadership, have been based in Idlib province.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the faction led by interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who spearheaded the offensive that ousted the previous authorities, had previously detained Diaby—classified by Washington as an “international terrorist”—for about a year and a half in its Idlib stronghold before releasing him in early February 2022.

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Before leaving for Syria in 2013, Diaby, who had been convicted of minor offenses, worked in a restaurant in Nice, in southeastern France. He later led a faction made up mostly of young Frenchmen from the Nice area.

After coming to power, al-Sharaa announced the dissolution of all armed factions, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, before they gradually joined the ranks of the Syrian Ministry of Defense.

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