'Guardians of Religion' extremist group under siege in Syria's Idlib
The Guardians of Religion Organization, which has close ties to al-Qaeda in Syria, is under pressure from US drone strikes and a possible assault by Russian-backed Syrian forces.
Jabhat al-Nusra — currently known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — split from al-Qaeda in 2016. Jabhat al-Nusra's hard-line current Fateh al-Sham saw the split as a betrayal to al-Qaeda and two years later, in February 2018, pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and formed a new jihadist group called the Guardians of Religion Organization (GRO).
Some of this current’s most prominent leaders are Jordanian jihadists such as Jabhat al-Nusra's Khaled al-Arouri (nicknamed Abu al-Qasim al-Urduni) and members of the Shura Council Samir Hijazi (Abu Hammam al-Shami or Faruq al-Suri), Sami al-Aridi (Abu Mahmoud al-Sham) Bilal Khreesat (Abu Khadija al-Urduni), Faraj Ahmad al-Naanaa and Abu Abdel-Karim al-Masry.
