ALEPPO — Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which controls Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, is refusing calls from al-Qaeda-affiliated Hurras al-Din (Guardians of Religion Organization) to resolve their differences through Sharia arbitration.

“A year into the unjust and aggressive arrest of a group of our Mujahideen brothers and students on the part of the HTS leadership, and after the harassment and injustice that our detained brothers have been subjected to over the course of this year, we had to make this statement,” Hurras al-Din leader Abu Humam al-Shami said in a statement released on Sept. 15.

He added, “We call on the HTS leadership to resort to Sharia arbitration. ... Should HTS refuse to do so, then we ask for an independent judiciary that both parties agree on to look into the condition of our prisoners, resolve the differences, settle the status of properties and assets they confiscated, and [stop] the ongoing arrests against the Mujahideen.”

Two members of HTS' Shura Council — Mazhar al-Wais and Abu Maria al-Qahtani (Iraqi national), both of whom are close to HTS leader Abu Muhammed al-Golani — refused the offer.