ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – Clashes between security forces of the Syrian government and Uzbek jihadists broke out in the northwestern Idlib province early Wednesday after state forces carried out a security operation, a war monitor reported. 

The clashes in the northern countryside of Idlib province allegedly came amid simmering tensions due to the arrest of an Uzbek fighter in the area, prompting backlash and demonstrations from Uzbek jihadists, according to rights groups and social media reports. 

A Telegram account close to the Uzbeki jihadists said the tensions rose after a foreign fighter, dubbed “Abu Ali al-Tajiki,” was “brutally arrested and severely beaten” in Kafraya, north of Idlib.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the operation “included raids and arrests targeting fighters of Uzbek nationality in the towns of al-Fuah and Kafraya, coinciding with intensive drone flights.” 

Security forces subsequently imposed a curfew, according to the Observatory.

Damascus has yet to issue an official statement, and reports of casualties remain unknown.

The Syrian government, under interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, has been under pressure from the international community to remove foreign jihadists from the country, particularly as a prerequisite to the lifting of sanctions. 

Uzbek militants have fought in Syria since the onset of the brutal civil war, primarily under groups like Katibat al-Imam al-Bukhari (KIB) and Katibat al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (KTJ). They have been affiliated with al-Qaeda, with the KIB designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US.

In October, Syrian government forces clashed with a group of French jihadists in Idlib known as the Firqat al-Ghuraba, or Strangers Division. The group is by Omar Omsen, also known as Omar Diaby, a French jihadist of Senegalese origin, wanted by Paris and designated an “international terrorist” by the US.