[14] Elected in October 2017, Hassan Soufan was the leader of Ahrar al-Sham and stated he was determined to distinguish his movement from "criminal" and "corrupt" projects, such as "Hitish and Daesh".

By doing so the SLF gained two of the largest Sunni Islamist rebel groups in northwestern Syria behind their main rival, Tahrir al-Sham.

The conflict soon spread to the Idlib Governorate where the SLF captured the city of Maarrat al-Nu'man, the towns of Ariha and Tramla, and the Wadi Deif military base from HTS on 21 February.

[17] On 3 May 2018, the Syrian Liberation Front, Suqour al-Sham, Sham Legion, and the Free Idlib Army formed a military council in the SLF-held Maarrat al-Nu'man.

Anad al-Darwish ("Abu al-Munathir"), considered to be Ahrar al-Sham's most powerful military commander, was named the National Front for Liberation's chief of staff.