MAYA GEBEILY July 16, 2013 Rebels versus rebels? A new front in the Syrian conflict may have opened up last week, when members of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) killed a Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander in Syria’s Latakia province. Kamal Hamami, known by his nom-de-guerre Abu Bassir al-Jeblawi, was shot last Thursday at a checkpoint after a dispute with members of ISIS, an al-Qaeda front group. Abu Bassir’s death was only the latest casualty in the increasing tensions between Islamist factions – mainly ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra – and the coalition of more moderate FSA battalions. Also last week, FSA member Fadi al-Qash was brutally beheaded in the village of al-Dana in the Syrian province of Idlib by members of ISIS. In the wake of this violence, an unnamed FSA commander described Abu Bassir’s execution as “tantamount to declaration of war” between the FSA and the al-Qaeda affiliates in Syria, namely ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra. Many Western and Arab media outlets reported the commander’s announcement as indicative of an official break between the FSA and Islamist factions, which had been conducting joint operations against regime forces. https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/reportsfeatures/rebels-versus-rebels
Posted on: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 16:14:37 +0000